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Hotel Milano
Hotel Milano
Mar 12, 2026 2:05 AM

Author:Tim Parks

Hotel Milano

From the bestselling, Booker-shortlisted chronicler of Italy, a classic novel about a man's emotional reckoning in a changed world far from home

Frank's reclusive existence in a leafy part of London is shattered when he is summoned to Milan for the funeral of an old friend. Preoccupied by this sudden intrusion of his past, he flies, oblivious, into the epicentre of a crisis he has barely registered on the news.

It is spring, his luxury hotel offers every imaginable comfort; perhaps he will be able to weather the situation and return home unscathed? What Frank doesn't know is that he's about to make a discovery that will change his heart and his mind.

Hotel Milano is a universal story from a unique moment in recent history: a book about the kindness of strangers, and about a complicated man who, faced with the possibility of saving a life, must also take stock of his own.

Reviews

Hotel Milano is one of Tim Parks' most engaging and satisfying books

—— Scotsman, *Summer Reads of 2023*

Tim Parks, a long-time resident in Italy, is an accomplished writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and this deft and affecting short novel combines his skills

—— New Statesman

A compelling mix of emotional introspection and pressing drama

—— Mail on Sunday

Excellent and quietly devastating... While recent pandemic novels such as Sarah Hall's Burntcoat and Sarah Moss's The Fell gave us the claustrophobia and forced intimacy of the pandemic, Hotel Milano comes closest to evoking what it was really like to watch the world be redrawn in real time

—— Guardian

Parks writes with an appealing wry elegance, and his quirky, erudite narrator finally finds solace not so much in the grand themes of European culture as in a shredded balloon stuck in a tree or the yellow beak of a blackbird

—— Spectator

A lovely, absorbing, acutely observed novel about class, money and love. These are the themes of Henry James and Jane Austen, but they are observed with a fresh eye and a contemporary voice.

—— Nick Hornby

Smart and clever, minutely observed and packed with one-liners, Pineapple Street is a more complicated read than it looks

—— The Guardian

Pineapple Street is a portrait at once searing, hilarious and poignant of a NY family straight-jacketed by their own wealth

—— Miranda Cowley Heller

I stayed up until five in the morning devouring PINEAPPLE STREET. Nothing beats a story told this well and rendered with such lovingly comic precision . . . Truly the smartest and most deliciously fun novel I've read in ages

—— Kevin Kwan

Books about complicated American blue blood families are my literary catnip so I loved this novel about a woman marrying into a wealthy New York clan and the struggles she faces to fit in. It's a smart, entertaining exploration of class and money and the expectations that come with both

—— Good Housekeeping

I loved PINEAPPLE STREET. The characters are complex and engaging and their stories bring a particular slice of New York magically alive. So wise, emotionally honest, and such fun

—— Helen Fielding

A blissfully enjoyable novel. One to pack for the summer, whether you're headed for the Hamptons or the Norfolk Broads

—— India Knight , Sunday Times

Jenny Jackson delivers SUCH a delicious treat with her debut novel, PINEAPPLE STREET. It delights across the board - character (the wealthy, quirky Stockton family), setting (an insider's look at Brooklyn) and plot (a searingly honest exploration of class and privilege.) With shifting points of view and smart, laugh-out-loud observations on every single page, PINEAPPLE STREET is an instant classic

—— Elin Hilderbrand

Filled with warmth and light. I was moved, engaged, inspired and charmed

—— Daisy Buchanan

Pineapple Street is that rarest of gifts-a novel you don't want to put down for anything. Transporting and laugh-out-loud funny, this intergenerational story is a perfect tale for our times

—— J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of FRIENDS AND STRANGERS

In this vibrant and hilarious debut, Jenny Jackson has taken a familiar tale-siblings, family money, competing interests-and given it fresh life. What binds the book together so wonderfully is Jackson's keen understanding of the beauty and difficulty of belonging, of how our desires can clash with our inherited narrative and what happens to the people we love when we need to rewrite the story. Pineapple Street is riveting, timely, hugely entertaining and brimming with truth

—— Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of THE NEST and GOOD COMPANY

Full of witty and caustic observations about a privileged class of New Yorkers, PINEAPPLE STREET is a sharp and juicy satire

—— Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE MAID

Killer debut about class, love and money

—— Grazia

It's the novel Jane Austen would have written . . . if Jane Austen lived in Brooklyn Heights in the 21st century

—— New York Times

If you're in search of the fiction trifecta - a captivating story that's masterfully constructed, vividly peopled, and crisply written - look no further. Jenny Jackson's Pineapple Street is pure reading pleasure, hilarious, big-hearted, and full of emotional truths. It's the kind of novel you hope will never end

—— Adrienne Brodeur

A witty, easy-to-devour story of wealth and love's never-ending war in the modern age

—— Elle

This novel...is laugh-out-loud good....Love and money have always mixed like oil and water (not well), but Jackson finds new humor and warmth in her particularly witty debut

—— Harper's Bazaar

This witty novel about the haves and have-mores is Succession with a soul

—— TIME

A novel about inheritance and the cultural inanities of the American WASP, set in a maximalist mansion? Don't mind if I do. Pineapple Street is more than a field report on the WASPs and their shabby-sweater super-wealth, of course-it's about class difference and the taxations of love

—— Bustle

Sparkling . . . The book is smart and sharply observed, peppered with small gems

—— The Washington Post

Pineapple Street encapsulates the oftentimes ridiculous nature of the ultra-wealthy. The author seamlessly immerses readers in the lives of the Stocktons...[who] must ask themselves the uncomfortable question: Is it possible to be "good" with this much money?

—— Shondaland

Ever wondered what it's like to be a New York socialite? This account of three ficitionalied Brooklyn Heights women lets you into the world of tennis clubs, long lunches and party politics. Life for Sasha, Daley and Georgina isn't as rosy as it seems. Each has her own personal drama, but releatable failures keep you rooting for them. Remember: money can't buy you love

—— Woman and Home

A observed comedy of manners set among New York's one-per-centers . . . the angsty relationship they each have with the family coffers spices the escapist entertainment that ensues

—— Mail on Sunday

Sharp-eyed and witty, this is writing which cuts to the quick. Engrossing, full of pleasure, sadness too, it traces loss and change in a world of the haves and the have nots

—— Daily Mail
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