Hotel Sacher
Hotel Sacher in Vienna, still known today for its famous Sachertorte dessert, was once the stomping ground for Austrian aristocracy and international diplomats in the decades leading up to World War I. This novel follows the rise of Anna Sacher, the widowed proprietress who works to manage the hotel herself, as well as the individuals shaped by their time at the hotel. There is Marie, a young kitchen maid abducted as a child, the married German publishers Martha and Maximilian Aderhold, and the Austrian Prince Georg von Traunstein and his Princess Konstanze. Amongst this cast two others, Love and Death, are anthropomorphized and touch on the lives of all the characters as they build their lives before and after WWI.
The timeframe of this novel, beginning in the late 19th century and ending after the First World War, ensures a healthy dose of personal and political drama. It delivers. While the married couples grapple with their relationships with one another, we also follow the political, business, and artistic growth of all the characters. Only the metamorphosis of Marie, rising up and finding her voice after escaping captivity, feels incomplete. Secondary characters shine a light on working-class concerns from the time, but overall could have played a larger role to provide more contrast between the relatively unique experiences of Austrian aristocracy and wealthy Germans. The sweeping drama and change, however, make for a captivating read. It is not hard to see how this Austrian novel, translated from German by Alison Layland, inspired an Austrian television drama by the same name.
