The Colonial Hotel

This devastating tale of love and war is “in Graham Greene territory . . . A solid novel on morality in our not-quite-postcolonial world.” (Globe and Mail)

“An exploration of love and grief, the power of storytelling, the pains of parenthood and uncomfortable truths . . . Bennett has cleverly and sensitively described the many types of love tested by war . . . Rewarding and intensely moving . . . Devastatingly beautiful.” — National Post

A lyrical, heartbreaking story of ardour and devastation

A doctor and a nurse, Paris and Helen, are doing humanitarian work in a nation on the brink of civil war. They have also fallen in love with each other — and Helen is pregnant with their child.

Then, a confrontation breaks out and they are swept up by rebel forces and separated. One is imprisoned while the other escapes. In The Colonial Hotel — which recasts a classic story of ancient Greece into a modern setting — we learn of their fates, in a brutally powerful story of family, forgiveness, and identity.