Hotel Magnifique

Hotel Magnifique (2022) is California-born author Emily J. Taylor’s debut novel. Aimed at young adults, the story includes elements of fantasy, magical realism, and romance. Siblings Jani and Zosa escape a life of poverty and drudgery by joining the titular Hotel Magnifique, a whimsical, traveling hotel staffed with magical beings. The novel follows the sisters as they try to unravel the mysteries and secrets at the heart of the hotel. Through its protagonist and narrator, Jani, the narrative explores themes such as family, Memory and Identity, Home and Belonging, and Power and Responsibility. Although it makes no reference to real-life history or geography, the story takes place in a fictional world with names and places inspired by French culture. It is steeped in a romanticized, turn-of-the-century setting that enhances the sense of magical realism.

This guide is based on the 2022 Kindle edition.

Plot Summary

The novel is narrated by Jani, a 17-year-old orphan. At the beginning of the story, Jani and her 13-year-old sister, Zosa, are working in the city of Durc. Jani is trying to save money to return to their hometown of Aligney and brings Zosa a job advertisement for the Hotel Magnifique. In their world, magic is unsafe unless a suminaire, or a magic wielder, channels their power through an artéfact. The Hotel Magnifique is the only place where magic is free. It is rendered safe by the legendary maître d’hotel, Alastair, who is known as the greatest suminaire in the world. Additionally, the hotel magically transports from place to place every night.

When Zosa is offered a contract as a singer to perform at the hotel, Jani refuses to let her go alone. She bargains with Bel, the hotel’s doorman and a powerful suminaire, to be granted entry as a maid. Bel mistakenly has her sign a guest contract instead of a worker’s. Guests, who are invited into the hotel by the maître, forget everything about their stay as soon as they leave. Workers, on the other hand, forget about their life outside the hotel once they step foot in it.

Having kept her memories of her past, Jani is able to investigate the strange occurrences she notices in the hotel. She soon realizes that Madame des Rêves and Yrsa, both of whom act as the maître’s second-in-command, are more dangerous than they appear. Des Rêves turns the stage performers, including Zosa, into birds and keeps them in cages. Yrsa, an alchemist, punishes disobedient workers by maiming them. Bel is responsible for moving the hotel every night. He does so on Alastair’s orders to find powerful artéfacts. Jani wants to turn her sister back into her human form and void her contract. She seeks Bel’s help to come up with a plan.

When Alastair discovers that Jani has been trying to free Zosa from the aviary, he forces her to sign a new contract that is supposed to erase her memories. However, Jani unexpectedly remembers who she is, a fact that she and Bel try to hide from everyone else. Together, Bel and Jani attempt to look for one of Alastair’s artéfacts, a signet ring that can bestow or erase magic. Jani wants to use it to destroy Alastair’s contracts.

When Jani herself is revealed to be a suminaire, the maître tasks her with finding the ring. Instead, Jani uses her powers to find Céleste, Alastair’s estranged sister. She learns that Alastair has no magic of his own and has been stealing other suminaires’ powers and keeping them in captivity in his aviary.

Jani, with the help of Bel, her friend Béatrice, and Zosa in bird form, makes a plan to take down Alastair and free the trapped suminaires. She enlists the help of Issig, one of the suminaires whose mind broke after one too many memory spells; he destroys Alastair’s contracts with a blast of his magic.

In the aftermath, Jani realizes that her true home is not in Aligney but with the people she loves. She decides to keep the hotel running alongside Bel, with whom she has developed a romantic relationship, and use it to make magic truly safe and free.