First published 2024
Marta lives at the Hotel Balzaar while her mother cleans rooms before dawn. Her mother tells her to move through the hotel like a little mouse, quiet and unseen. Marta spends her days in the grand lobby talking with the bellman and watching a cat chase a mouse around the grandfather clock's face. She studies the painting of an angel's wing above the fireplace and dreams of her soldier father, who has disappeared. A mysterious countess arrives with a parrot and promises to tell seven stories in their proper order. As Marta listens to each tale, she begins to suspect the countess's stories might hold the key to finding her missing father. The second book in Kate DiCamillo's Norendy trilogy explores how stories within stories can reveal hidden truths about loss and hope.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Hotel Balzaar, Norendy
Period: 20th-century
160 pages · Hardcover · Candlewick Press