Critical Praise

“[Vaill] is eminently capable of juggling multiple stories, of making readers care about all her characters…[She] has written a powerful account of a country harrowed by war, of a motley collection of talented human beings striding into the gunfire looking for the truth.” 

—Daniel Dyer, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

“Vaill’s considerable accomplishment in HOTEL FLORIDA stems from her structural strategy to view the Spanish Civil War through the interwoven stories of a sextet of individuals…The threads of all these tales ripple with excitement, doom, courage, betrayal, defeat and, of course, love…Vaill’s book races forward like a novel, even as it provides a lucid account of a hugely complex and sometimes baffling war.” 

—Steve Paul, The Kansas City Star

“Vaill isn’t after anything as quixotic as trying to ‘set the record straight’ on the Spanish Civil War; instead, she delves deeply into the lives of three couples whose chronicling of the war shaped public perception…What Vaill seems to be mulling over in this book is the age-old question of what war does to people…HOTEL FLORIDA adds to the cold hard facts --- as well as to the enduring mystique --- of the Spanish Civil War.” 

—Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

“A vivid, well-paced story of the awfulness of war and of the complex motives of those who report on it.” 

—James Campbell, The Wall Street Journal