Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War

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Poignant and painful, Hotel Exile takes the vehicle of a hotel as a means of telling the story of exile. Set in the middle of Paris, before, during and after the Second World War, it reveals a part of this period of history that is often left unexplored.--Thangam Debbonaire, Chair of Judges for Women's Prize for Non-Fiction

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[A] brilliant piece of storytelling. . . . Scintillatingly good [and] thrillingly immersive. . . . [ Hotel Exile] captures the historical moment with a rare combination of urgency and empathy.--James McConnachie "The Sunday Times"

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Extraordinary. . . . An almost cinematic account that will, for many readers, connect figures and episodes in a new way.--Mark Mazower "Financial Times"

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Hauntingly vivid. . . . Rogoyska proves such a fresh, astute and unaffected writer that there's not a dull page.--Rupert Christiansen "Literary Review"

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Hotel Exile is an extraordinary account of a Parisian institution which became a stage set for the terror, tension, and triumph of the Second World War. Its staff and guests are thrilling players in an utterly compelling account that sheds important new light on a seemingly familiar episode of modern history.--Richard Ovenden, Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries at the University of Oxford

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Impressive and original. . . . Vivid and thoroughly researched. . . . A masterclass.--Patrick Marnham "The Spectator"

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Riveting--and heartbreaking.-- "The Economist"

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A gripping account of one institution in extraordinary times.-- "Evening Standard"

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A devastating and -memorable account of lives thrown into upheaval by Nazism.-- "Irish Independent"

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Beautifully written... This is a compelling book full of lessons we may not wish to hear.-- "Country Life"

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Transformed from hotel to hospital, the Lutetia... and the dramas it witnessed are brought here to vivid, searing life.-- "The Tablet"

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Poignant and richly layered.--History of War magazine

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Powerful.-- "Mail on Sunday"

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Outstanding... Rogoyska's book soars to great heights.--Kathryn Hughes "The Guardian"

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Riveting... Conveys the fear, devastation, and even disbelief and denial of the times. It's a striking immersion into the trauma caused by the Nazi machine.-- "Publishers Weekly"

Publisher Marketing:

Since its opening in 1910, the Hotel Lutetia has been a grand Paris institution, a meeting place for artists, intellectuals, musicians, and politicians. André Gide took his lunch here, James Joyce lived in one of its rooms, Picasso and Matisse were regular guests. But the hotel has a darker history, too--from the years before, during, and after the second World War. In this short period, the Lutetia witnessed some of the most dramatic and terrible events in recent history.

In Hotel Exile, Jane Rogoyska evokes in novelistic prose the emotions, dilemmas, and fates of the hotel's patrons. In the 1930s, Europe's bohemian artists and political activists, forced to flee their homes when Hitler came to power, met at the Lutetia with the hope of forming an alternative government. But when war came, Paris was occupied, and the hotel became the headquarters of the German military intelligence service--and the center of their operation to root out enemies of the Reich. In 1945, the Lutetia was requisitioned once more, this time transformed into a reception center for Holocaust survivors who sought refuge after the Liberation. Rogoyska explores what it meant for these three profoundly different groups to live in exile, under the shadow of the dark ideology that dictated the course of their lives.

A masterpiece of empathy and concision, Hotel Exile is about what happens at the edges of a war, passing through the doors of a normally functioning hotel, a site under occupation, and, finally, a shelter and place of healing. Jane Rogoyska's extraordinary new book offers us a vision of individual human beings desperately trying to find a path through some of the twentieth century's most devastating events.

Review Citations:

• Publishers Weekly 05/11/2026 (EAN 9781324089902, Hardcover)
• Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2026 (EAN 9781324089902, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:Rogoyska, Jane
Jane Rogoyska is the author of Surviving Katyn: Stalin's Polish Massacre and the Search for Truth, a winner of the Mark Lynton History Prize; Gerda Taro: Inventing Robert Capa; and a novel, Kozlowski. She lives in London.