by Irving, John
First published 2022
Rachel "Little Ray" Brewster competes in the 1941 National Downhill and Slalom Championships in Aspen, Colorado. She performs poorly on the slopes but leaves with an unexpected consequence: pregnancy. Ray returns to New England where she teaches skiing and raises her son Adam in a household that sidesteps conventional norms. The family avoids discussing the circumstances surrounding Adam's conception and Ray's time in Colorado. As Adam matures, the unanswered questions about his origins gnaw at him. He eventually travels to Aspen seeking the truth about his past. At the Hotel Jerome, the very place where he was conceived decades earlier, Adam encounters supernatural presences. These ghostly meetings reveal secrets about his mother's eventful stay in Colorado and the identity of his father. The apparitions Adam faces at the hotel represent just the beginning of his supernatural experiences in this multigenerational story that weaves together themes of family secrets, sexual politics, and the persistence of the past.
Genres: family, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: family-secrets, found-family, supernatural
Setting: Aspen, Colorado, Hotel Jerome, New England
Period: 1941
889 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster