From the bestselling author of The Household Guide to Dying comes a funny and moving account of life in the country.

The Captain and his wife accidentally find themselves managing the Hotel Albatross. The Captain floats between the hotel's various bars: chatting to and chatting up customers, breaking up fights, and dealing calmly with the simmering tensions of a small town. His wife has her hands full with the day-to-day running of the hotel: mediating between family members fighting over wedding decorations, appeasing disgruntled staff members and dealing with the horror of what lies in room 101. She also dreams of getting out...

Debra Adelaide has created a wonderfully poignant novel about hotel management and human nature. She weaves the eccentric cast of characters together beautifully with the politics of life in a small town to give the reader a sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking glimpse into what it would be like to live at the Hotel Albatross.