SILVER MEDAL IN FOREWORD REVIEWS BOOK OF THE YEAR (Historical Fiction) An American Family. A World War. A First Love. A Small Hotel. It’s the summer of 1941. Europe is at war, but New York's Thousand Islands are at the height of the tourist season. Kennet Fiskare, son of a hotel proprietor, is having the summer of a lifetime, having fallen deeply in love with a Swedish-Brazilian guest named Astrid Virtanen. But the affair is cut short and the young lovers permanently parted, first by Astrid’s family obligations, then by America’s entry into the war. The rigors of military life help dull his heartache, but when Kennet’s battalion reaches France, he is thrown into the crucible of front line combat. As his unit crosses Europe, from the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, Kennet falls into a different kind of love: the intense camaraderie between soldiers. It's a bond fierce yet fragile, vital yet expendable, here today and gone tomorrow. Sustained by his friendships, Kennet both witnesses and commits the unthinkable atrocities of warfare, altering his view of the world and himself. To the point where a second chance with Astrid in peacetime might be the most terrifying and consequential battle he’s ever fought. With her signature blend of soul-stirring prose and emotional complexity, Laqueur takes readers on a journey through events that shape an American family’s weakest moments and finest hours. A Small Hotel illuminates the experience of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances, and their once-in-a-generation camaraderie, courage and resiliency. It’s a novel for the world, a heartbreaking, uplifting story of family, love and human endurance. "A Small Hotel twines together personal stories with well-researched historical vignettes to create a world you can't help but get caught up in. Her characters step out of the pages to challenge the reader's preconceptions of key themes without relying on cliched romance novel tropes — a story with depth and breadth as well as emotion and scope." —GO! Magazine "Suanne Laqueur depicts a fine interplay between family, love, and the revised family circumstances of being part of a military world. As A Small Hotel evolves, readers receive a vivid, emotional survey of families challenged by war's arrival and the kinds of decisions that change everyone. Its powerful force brings the times and individual struggles and perceptions to life, making A Small Hotel highly recommended for any fiction reader interested in World War Two's impact on disparate lives around the world." —Midwest Book Review "A glorious read. Laqueur is a master storyteller. More than a historical romance, [A Small Hotel] is a tale of love, of longing, of heartbreak... a tale of familial loyalty and bonds that transcend blood." —Feathered Quill Book Reviews "Laqueur is a fine writer and her ambitious historical fiction novel, A Small Hotel , is lively and highly readable. It begins with a 'once upon a time' innocence, a sweet simplicity. Laqueur wastes no time getting her readers engaged. Loving the characters in this book comes easy and quick, and plots unravel swiftly and tangibly. But what begins as a book of family lore and sweet complexities takes a sharp turn when the Fiskare boys go to war. Here, Laqueur's writing becomes sharper, edgier. The horrors of war are not spared. In his journal, Kennet writes down the unspeakable; he experiences the unthinkable; he does the unimaginable. Laqueur leaves nothing out. The aftermath of war is not easy, either, sorting out the dead, the wounded, and the irreparably sad. Not stooping to a fairytale happy ending, Laqueur scrapes up what remains and makes the best of it." --BookTrib A former professional dancer and teacher, Suanne Laqueur went from choreographing music to choreographing words. After graduating from Alfred University with a double major in dance and theater, Laqueur taught at the Carol Bierman School of Ballet Arts in Croton-on-Hudson for ten years. An avid reader, cook and gardener, she started her blog EatsReadsThinks in 2010 and published her debut novel, The Man I Love, in 2014, which won a gold medal in the 2015 Readers' Favorite Book Awards and was named Best Debut in the Feathered Quill Book Awards.. Her fourth novel, An Exaltation of Larks, was the grand prize winner in the 2017 Writer's Digest Book Awards, and took first place in the 2019 North Street Book Prize. Laqueur lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband and two children.