Eve is a reclusive art appraiser for a London auction house, happily doing her job when an old man walks in. He says his name is Max Everly — coincidentally, the same name as her favorite composer, born more than a century earlier — and he has a gift for her. After leaving Eve's office, the man disappears from her life, though she's intrigued by the small white octopus he's given her. A bit of research on the octopus takes Eve to an abandoned hotel in the Swiss Alps, and as she's exploring, she falls through time to the heyday of the hotel in the 1930s, where she once again meets a much younger Max Everly.
Sprinkled with time travel, mysterious magical objects, and a curiously fun hotel (my favorite element is the hidden eavesdropper in the speakeasy, who gives his signature cough whenever someone is lying), this book is a lovely read. Yes, it dabbles with the fantastical and magical, but it's not a full-on fantasy novel. An excellent magical realism read for fans of books like The Night Circus.
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