23 Jun Book Review: The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie Stiefvater is best known for her lyrical, dreamlike young adult novels like The Scorpio Races and The Raven Cycle. But in The Listeners, her adult fiction debut, she shifts into a more grounded — though still slightly uncanny — historical setting. It’s 1942, America is newly at war, and in a remote mountain spa, diplomacy, espionage, and unsettling magic start to quietly ripple through the marble halls. This novel is quiet in tone, but loud in its emotional and political stakes.

What’s it about?

We’re dropped into the Avallon Hotel & Spa in West Virginia — a luxurious resort known for its famous “sweetwater” springs that claim to have healing properties. It’s remote, serene, and frozen in a kind of in-between time, like a place caught between worlds. Our protagonist, June Porter Hudson, is the hotel’s general manager. She’s been in charge since she was barely out of her teens, having taken over after the owners — the well-to-do Gilfoyles — stepped back. She’s meticulous, fiercely capable, and emotionally guarded.

Then comes the twist: the State Department requisitions the hotel. In the early months of America’s involvement in World War II, foreign diplomats from Axis countries — Germans, Italians, Japanese — and their families are detained on U.S. soil. Not imprisoned exactly, but housed indefinitely, with all the elegance and comfort they’re used to… and constant surveillance.

June is suddenly in charge of hosting “enemy” nationals — including people whose nations have declared war on hers. Her staff, already a tight-knit and proud Appalachian community, are outraged. Their sons are off fighting, and now they’re expected to serve wine and fold napkins for the people their sons might be fighting against. The emotional stakes are high, and the air in the hotel is thick with resentment, confusion, and suspicion.

One of those suspicious characters is FBI agent Tucker Minnick, a local with a clipped accent and quiet steeliness. He’s been sent to monitor the guests for signs of espionage — but it quickly becomes clear that he’s not entirely above board himself. As he and June navigate the fraught day-to-day operations of the hotel, a strange bond starts to form. It’s not romantic, exactly, but it is deeply personal. They understand each other as only two people caught between duty and moral exhaustion can.

The other major thread in the story is Hannelore, a young, non-verbal German girl who seems to have an unusual connection to the hotel’s sweetwater springs. While the novel never goes full fantasy, there are glimmers of something not-quite-normal in Hannelore’s presence. She seems to listen in a way others don’t — to the walls, to the water, to the ghosts of old griefs embedded in the hotel’s foundations.

As the story unfolds, subtle acts of resistance begin to take shape. June starts noticing coded language, strange routines, and hidden communications among the guests. At the same time, she’s pulled deeper into the moral complexity of her position. She knows she’s meant to be impartial, but what does that even mean in a place where loyalties are so tangled?

Tensions rise toward the end of the novel when a diplomatic event at the hotel explodes into crisis. What’s revealed changes everything — not just about the guests, but about the staff, the government’s role, and the nature of the Avallon itself. The book closes in a way that is more haunting than definitive — not all the mysteries are solved, but the emotional truths hit hard and linger.

What This Chick Thinks

A Historical Novel That Feels Like It’s Breathing

This book doesn’t rush. It unfurls. There’s something richly atmospheric about Stiefvater’s pacing — you’re not racing to a climax, you’re sinking into a mood. I loved how the hotel felt like a living thing, from the thermal water pipes to the creaking floors. The setting is vivid, not just as a backdrop but as a character. There’s a strange quietness to this book that matches the time period — everyone is holding their breath, waiting for the next telegram, the next knock on the door, the next betrayal.

June is Not Your Average Historical Heroine

June isn’t glamorous or spirited in that plucky WWII heroine way. She’s exhausted. She’s emotionally walled-off. She’s complicated. And that’s exactly why I liked her. You feel her tension on every page — trying to keep things professional while the walls close in around her. Watching her slowly start to trust Tucker, even when she doesn’t want to, is done with real emotional care. Their bond is one of the best parts of the book — not quite romance, more like two people sharing a very heavy burden.

The Sweetwater is Mysterious in All the Right Ways

This is where Stiefvater fans will feel most at home. The sweetwater springs aren’t explained — they’re felt. Sometimes they heal. Sometimes they seem to reflect what people want. Sometimes they do… other things. The supernatural elements are quiet and ambiguous, but they shimmer just beneath the surface. The novel doesn’t need to explain how or why the water works — it trusts the reader to feel it instead.

One Tiny Complaint: I Wanted Just a Bit More Resolution

The ending was emotionally satisfying, but I did wish a few of the plot threads were tied off more clearly. There’s a slow, deliberate layering of tension throughout the novel, and while the emotional payoff is there, some of the political and espionage elements felt like they fizzled out more than climaxed. That said, it didn’t diminish my love for the book — I just could’ve done with one more chapter of closure.

Final Thoughts

The Listeners is elegant, unsettling, and beautifully written. It’s a war story that isn’t about battles — it’s about waiting rooms, dinner tables, awkward conversations, and quiet resistance. If you like your historical fiction with a side of ambiguity and magic, this is a gem. It’s the kind of novel you sit with. It echoes. It doesn’t shout. And I already want to re-read it to catch what I missed.

Rating: 8.5/10

Try it if you like:

• The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman – A blend of myth, magic, and historical drama told through the eyes of four women holding a fortress in the desert.
• The Night Watch by Sarah Waters – A nonlinear tale of London during and after WWII, full of quiet desperation and complicated women.
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters – If you liked the haunting house atmosphere of the Avallon, this postwar gothic will hit the same nerve.