Room 706
A Novel
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A married woman is trapped with her lover in a hotel under siege: If she knew it would end this way, would it ever have begun?
Kate’s children and her husband are her whole world. Since marrying young, she’s dedicated her life to making her little family grow. But in the last few years, she’s carved out something just for herself: hours stolen away with another man. After one midday tryst with her lover, Kate’s double life is thrown into chaos when she turns on the TV to find their hotel has been overtaken by an unnamed, dangerous group. As Kate’s life hangs in the balance, she is faced with “a gripping exploration of the murky grey areas of marriage, relationships, and womanhood” (Hazel Hayes).
Room 706 is a “tense exploration of desire” (Alina Grabowski). Raw, unsettling, and deeply human, it compels you to ask: Would I feel guilt, regret . . . or relief?
“Poignant, immersive, and utterly human, I adored this brilliant novel.”
—Sarah Jessica Parker, SJP Lit
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the unsatisfying debut novel from journalist Levenson (Creativity and Feature Writing), a married Londoner's life flashes before her eyes while she's trapped with her lover during a terrorist attack. Kate Bright, 36, is very much in love with her husband, Vic, and their two children, but a part of her wants something just for herself. For six years, she and her married lover, James, have been meeting in a hotel room every few months. As James showers following their latest tryst, Kate basks in her "post orgasm buzz." Then she hears on the news that a gunman has taken over their hotel. With nowhere to go, Kate sifts through the decisions and events that have led her here, beginning with her mother's death from a car accident when she was a university student and meeting Vic soon after. She meets James several years later, after she and Vic are married with their first child; he's also happily married but longing for something more. Now, while holed up with James, she texts with Vic, telling him she's in the hotel, but lying about why. Levenson keeps the story moving all the way to its cliff-hanger ending, which fails to offer any meaningful resolution about Kate's choices and her fate. The result feels like a half-baked thought experiment.
