This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We ...
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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
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Add this copy of The Grand Babylon Hotel to cart. $28.30, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2022 by Legare Street Press.
Add this copy of The Grand Babylon Hotel to cart. $61.98, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2022 by Legare Street Press.
Arnold Bennett's masterpiece 'The Grand Babylon Hotel' (1902) is comprised of short snappy chapters that almost always close on a cliff hanger. The characters are archetypes (a nice way of saying stereotypes, I suppose); forceful American millionaire, millionaire's beautiful and willful daughter, a couple of European princes and their retainers, a Swiss hotelier, evil genius 'Jules' (real name, Thomas Jackson, the erstwhile head waiter of the eponymous hotel, who we meet and learn to dislike on the opening page), and possibly the greatest single character, the fabulous Grand Babylon Hotel, the 'first' hotel in London and quite possibly the world, with it's own separate entrance for royalty constantly in use.
The action comes fast and furious. There is big money wheeling and dealing, romance, gambling debts, corpses appearing and disappearing, hidden passageways, midnight flits to Ostend, kidnapping, European politics and more. This is not a deep read, but a joyous romp. Highly recommended.