The Girl from the Grand Hotel, Camille Aubray
The Girl from the Grand Hotel, Camille Aubray
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
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The Girl from the Grand Hotel
A Novel

Author: Camille Aubray

Narrator: Mozhan Navabi

Unabridged: 9 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/30/2024

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

The #1 bestselling author of Cooking for Picasso and The Godmothers returns with The Girl from the Grand Hotel, a dazzling historical novel that brings readers into the glamorous world of the first (and doomed) Cannes Film Festival and the deadly atmosphere of Europe on the brink of war. Summer 1939. The glittering Côte d’Azur is having a particularly brilliant season, as the world’s wealthiest vacationers collide with Hollywood’s illustrious movie stars for the first-ever film festival on the French Riviera.Into this hothouse playground comes an American named Annabel Faucon. Having left a dead-end job and a broken heart back in New York, she’s escaped to a summer stint at the fabulous Grand Hotel, where her uncle is the manager. But when a major movie studio brings its flock of stars to stay at the hotel, Annabel is handpicked to “keep an eye on” two of the mysterious arrivals: a screenwriter who’s been “in his cups” and a renegade actor who keeps luring the studio’s female star into his independent productions.The arrival of Nazi guests only intensifies the situation. Suddenly everyone is watching everybody else during this feverish last summer before the outbreak of World War II. Faced with international spies who will stop at nothing to get what they want, Annabel finds herself embroiled in murder, intrigue, and a race against the clock to disrupt a secret Nazi communications system.Inspired by true events and the histories of three great hotels on the Côte d’Azur—with appearances by such real-life luminaries as Marlene Dietrich, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Cagney, and Mae West—The Girl from the Grand Hotel is a brilliant page-turner that is not to be missed.

About Camille Aubray

Camille Aubray is the author of the novel, COOKING FOR PICASSO, which was chosen for People Magazine’s “People Picks the Best New Books”, and the Indie Next Reading Groups List. Aubray was an Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship winner and a writer-in-residence at the Karolyi Foundation in the South of France. She studied writing with her mentor Margaret Atwood at Humber College in Toronto, and was a finalist for the Pushcart Press Editors' Book Award and the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. To learn more about Camille Aubray and to see events, photos, recipes and the locales that inspired her novels, visit her at her website: www.camilleaubray.com .

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mary on August 31, 2024

If there was ever a book that made me want to read an author's backlist, it is The Girl from the Grand Hotel by Camille Aubray. I had already been eying her debut Cooking for Picasso, but now I will be reading anything and everything this woman writes that is in novel format. I always enjoy my time......more

Goodreads review by Gerrie on April 28, 2024

The Girl from the Grand Hotel by Camille Aubray is a delightful historical novel set on the French Riviera in 1939. Europe is on the brink of war, but the area is excited and abuzz as celebrities arrive for the very first Cannes film Festival. “I…would give my life for three years in France.” (F. Sco......more

Goodreads review by Allison on May 03, 2024

Another great book by Camille Aubrey. I enjoyed reading about a beautiful French hotel on the French Riviera during World War II frequented by both movie, stars and Nazis and the conflicts that ensued. It was interesting reading about the movie stars and the interactions between them and the main ch......more

Goodreads review by Karen on February 21, 2024

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I really enjoyed this book, it had a bit of everything that in my opinion makes a good read, interesting time period, some mystery, some romance,, but most importantly the story had a brisk pace it kept moving. The story of Ann......more

Goodreads review by Susan on April 29, 2024

I thought I had read about every possible angle of World War II in the dozens of titles I’ve read in the past few years, but this was a new one for me. Camille Aubrey drew me right into this story about the first attempt to hold the famed Cannes Film Festival in 1939–which was interrupted by Germany......more

Quotes

“Fun and surprising…The Girl from the Grand Hotel follows a twenty-year-old American woman [who] hobnobs with the rich and famous…but all the while Camille Aubray has set the stage for deeper themes…Readers will be swept away.” Publishers Weekly

“Camille Aubray’s The Girl from the Grand Hotel begins as a beach read—and what a beach!—then evolves into a glossy-fearsome thriller partly based on true events…Readers who like the pageantry of galas and the upstairs-downstairs tensions of Downton Abbey should swoon at this breathtakingly imagined novel.” Shelf Awareness pick for “Best Books This Week”

“A story steeped in glamour and espionage…The beauty of Aubray’s uncluttered prose [lends] credence to the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote she uses to open the novel’s first part. The numerous real-life luminaries who pepper the story add a comforting gravitas and depth to the narrative, and Aubray hews close to their actual stories and personas…The Girl from the Grand Hotel offers an imaginative glimpse into recent history, one that entertains as it gives perspective. Washington Independent Review of Books

“Dazzling.” Woman’s World magazine’s pick for the “Best Books You Won’t Be Able to Put Down”

“With sparkling characters and a riveting plot, Aubray’s latest will appeal to fans of old Hollywood and historical fiction in general.” Booklist

“This is a great historically based novel that looks at the first Cannes Film Festival, with well-written characters and a story you want to keep reading. Historical fiction readers will enjoy this one.” Red Carpet Crash

“Camille Aubray’s newest novel, The Girl from the Grand Hotel, transports readers to the dazzling Côte d’Azur, just in time for the first Cannes Film Festival in September 1939.” Historical Novels Society

“This transportive new read based on a true story has won over Kristin Hannah (“What’s not to love about this delicious novel”) and Fiona Davis (“[I] was swept away by the fast-paced and canny twists”). A young American checks into the Grand Hotel in the South of France—where the glamorous clientele must soon contend with the arrival of Nazi officials.” BookBub, “Check Out These New Books”

“The Girl from the Grand Hotel is right up my alley. I love French history, the Cote d’Azur, and old Hollywood, so what’s not to love about this delicious novel inspired by true events and set in one of the most beautiful, most romantic places in the world? Camille Aubray captures the era in vivid and memorable detail.” Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Huge congrats to Camille Aubray for a terrific read! The Girl from the Grand Hotel is a delicious romp through the South of France, filled with a cast of Hollywood legends and wrapped in a tense spy thriller. I loved her dead-on depictions of bold-faced names of the day, like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Charles Laughton, and was swept away by the fast-paced story and canny twists. An exhilarating ride!” Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author

Awards

  • Historical Novel Society
  • A Rap Sheet Pick
  • Barnes & Noble Favorite Indie Book
  • BookBub Editors' Pick
  • A Hasty Book List Pick
  • Booklist Queen Pick
  • Guest of a Guest
  • Woman's World Pick
  • Film Stage Pick
  • Shelf Awareness Pick
  • AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
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