“As the hotel got closer, it was like seeing a photograph slowly developing-the details appearing, a spark of an idea made real. But more than that, it was like coming home. Eve felt a strange tingling sensation wash over her as she stared at the hotel. It knew she was here. She was suddenly certain of it. It had been waiting for her. It had been waiting for years.”

 After a mysterious man named Max Everly gives Eve an octopus ornament, one she believes she recognises, one that looks exactly like the octopus tattoo she has, her obsession with it leads her to discovering a hotel from 1935, the White Octopus. Through further investigations Eve discovers this hotel was believed to hold magical artefacts and was a key to traveling back through time. Eve is desperately trying to locate the hotel as it may provide a way for her to undo a tragic event from her childhood.

The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell delves readers into a surreal world of magic, time travel and a second chance of living. 

The worldbuilding in this book is amazing and though I don’t want to give too much away, I will discuss the hotel in a bit of detail as it was one of my favourite aspects of the book. The White Octopus is situated in Switzerland in the Alps and I just immediately loved that cold, remote setting. In 1935 it’s a grand, luxurious place, a place of opulence and wonder. Each room is filled with strange and surreal magic—a room with a fountain that showers music like rain, the Smoking Room with the Eavesdropper hiding behind the curtains, an enigma who only coughs when someone is telling a lie, a mirror to show a changing and malicious reflection. Then there are the strange octopus and clock motifs around the hotel, some only appearing after dark. There is a level of creepiness to the hotel too, ghosts haunt this place and some of the magic seems to be able to turn sinister. I loved the balance that Bell created here, the way the hotel is represented as an escape but also a place where you wouldn’t want to linger too long, there are too many hidden secrets. Then the people who run the hotel have their mysteries too and it became fascinating to work them out. The time travel aspect of the hotel was a fantastic concept, it had its limitations set out at the beginning and held enough mystery to keep me compelled. However by the end I was left confused and had a myriad of questions that were left unanswered, which was a bit of a shame. 

“He wanted to thank her for listening, for being there, for reminding him that there was kindness and gentleness in a world that had gone mad. Only he knew he wouldn’t be able to find the right words. For a wild moment, he thought of kissing her instead. But she was clean and whole, and he was dirty and damaged, and it could not be.”

The themes in this book were so beautifully and poignantly illustrated throughout. Bell really gets to the heart of both Eve and Max, two characters broken by their past, overwhelmed with grief and guilt. Eve is desperately trying to undo a childhood trauma that she never recovered from, never forgave herself for, and Max is followed by ghosts from being on the front line in the war and all the horrific things that had occurred there. Eve often shuts people out, she can be quite selfish and she will not stop blaming herself for things that were completely out of her control. Her relationship with her mother, Jane, is strenuous and honestly for a long time I despised Jane. Yet as the novel progresses, we learn so much more about her mother, we see a woman overwhelmed by motherhood and Eve begins to understand her more. Though that doesn’t excuse how Eve was treated as a child, Bell portrays a mother who was trying and struggling. As much as Eve is blinded, so too is Max, making him often angry and reclusive. I really loved the way their friendship and they’re growing closeness played out, how at first both find solace in art forms, and then in each other. They are each other’s warmth when their life is cold and lonely, through time they get to know each other like no one else could. It is beautiful, sad but also offers hope for their futures, for their healing. 

The White Octopus Hotel is the story of two people finding each other when they are at their darkest moment and showing each other how to heal. Dazzling, mysterious and heartfelt this is a novel that offers magic and comfort. 

Review copy provided by Hana at Del Rey UK in exchange for an honest review—thank you for the copy! 

The White Octopus Hotel is available now – you can order your copy on Bookshop.org