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Using hotels for key scenes in books

Writer's picture: Stuart Grant Stuart Grant

Yesterday I posted on Facebook about the horrible fire at the Claremont Hotel on the seafront here in Eastbourne. You can see what's left of it this morning from this image - courtesy of East Sussex Fire and Rescue. My post prompted a question from one of my readers, Lynn, as to whether it was the hotel that had featured in The Chalky Sea, which is set here in wartime Eastbourne. It wasn’t. But Lynn’s question gave me the idea of writing this post, as in fact I have used three Eastbourne Hotels in my books, The Cavendish and the Hydro in The Chalky Sea and The Grand in Kurinji Flowers. I also borrowed and renamed a hotel in Katoomba Australia for a wedding scene in A Greater World, used The Hotel du Palais in Biarritz in The Gamekeeper's Wife, and my latest novel The Pearl of Penang has a chapter which takes place in the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in George Town. Either I'm a bit of a hotel freak or they make great settings!

Why do hotels make great locations for dramatic scenes?

There are several reasons. Firstly, older hotels are often blessed with fabulous architecture and impressive public rooms as well as often being steeped in history. They are also places where people are passing through – staying for a holiday, attending a function or going out for a special dinner. This can make them the perfect setting for dramatic events.

Whether to use the hotel's actual name or not?

I decide this based on whether the hotel concerned is in a town or a city that I have specifically named. As my town, McDonald Falls in A Greater World was a fictional creation - although with many elements inspired by Katoomba – I needed to change the name of the hotel from the one which inspired me – The Carrington – and it became The Queen Alexandra Hotel. I have never stayed in the Carrington but I did go there for lunch to do a spot of scouting and sneaked into the main dining room and ballroom to take photos as they were closed at the time. I've lost the pictures I took but here is one of the exterior (courtesy of Sardaka Wikimedia Commons)

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