The Thousand Lights Hotel by Emylia Hall; Shelf Indulgence

 

• Paperback: 304 pages
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Headline Review (13 July 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1472212029
• ISBN-13: 978-1472212023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

When Kit loses her mother in tragic circumstances, she feels drawn to finally connect with the father she has never met. That search brings her to the Thousand Lights Hotel, the perfect holiday escape perched upon a cliff on the island of Elba. Within this idyllic setting a devastating truth is brought to light: shaking the foundations upon which the hotel is built, and shattering the lives of the people within it.

 

Review

The Thousand Lights Hotel has been on my shelf for two years, according to Amazon. With all that is going on I fancied a lighter read, set somewhere in the sun and this book gave me that. Kit’s mother left Italy to start a new life in England with her baby daughter. Kit grew up believing her father was dead, but as her mother is dying of cancer she tells  her that she lied and that her father is still alive. Kit decides to visit her father and find out more about the man who broke her mothers heart.  On the beautiful Island of Elba she finds her self at the magical Thousand Lights Hotel, where Kit’s world and that of Valentino, her father will be changed forever.

I love any book set in my spiritual home of Italy, and the setting of this is the beautiful Island of Elba situated off the coast of Italy. As well as being famous for Napoleon being exiled there, it is also famous for it’s Innamorata, the festival of love. Emylia Hall paints a beautiful and sensual picture of the Island, the hotel set on a cliff lighted by the thousand lights on an evening, the mouthwatering food and the scent of the herbs and flowers that grow there and the salty breeze off the sea.

There is a wonderful cast of characters, many are not as they first seem, all have their own story. Kit goes to Elba with preconceived ideas about the man who is her father, ideas passed on from her mother, but her stay at the hotel teaches her that there are always two sides to every story. Valentino is charismatic, the perfect host offering a holiday experience that the guests come back for year after year. But behind the facade is a different man, with sorrow and headache in his past that he never shares or let show. This theme of secrets also relates to the gorgeous chef Olivero and Isabel who has been coming tomthe hotel for ten years.  As secrets are revealed the plot turns and opens more questions than answers for Kit and Valentino, which kept me totally gripped.

The Thousand Lights Hotel is a story of love, tragedy and the secrets we keep to ourselves.  Emylia Hall writing captures the beauty and atmosphere if Elba, its towns, flora and fauna and the people who live there. Kit’s story is heartbreaking and in no way predictable which surprised me, and added to the emotional and compelling pull of this book.  This is perfect escapism in the warm Italian sunshine, a brilliant read that had me gripped, I can’t wait to read more books by Emylia Hall.