David Leavitt's The Two Hotel Francforts takes place in the summer of 1940, as Americans crowd into Lisbon hotels waiting for the SS Manhattan to rescue them from war-torn Europe. Julia Winters, forced to abandon her dream flat in Paris, loathes the prospect of returning to the U.S. Her devoted husband is the gullible, well-intentioned Pete Winters, head of the Buick sales division in France.
When pigeons swoop low over their café table, Pete ducks, knocking Julia's playing cards off the table. When he bends to get them, his glasses fall off, and a passing waiter kicks them into the path of wealthy, charming Edward Freleng, who has never had to work in his life and is dominated by his tall, red-haired wife, Iris, who drives and sails and rides--and intends to hang onto her husband.
The couples discover they are staying in different hotels with, in essence, the same name, the Hotel Francfort and the Francfort Hotel. The women retire and the men decide to take a spin in Pete's car. Suddenly, Pete and Edward are on a madcap nighttime journey, where they try absinthe and plunge naked into the sea, changing all of their lives forever.
Leavitt is superb at comedy of manners, his dialogue is witty and tight and his characters constantly reveal themselves while trying to keep their true feelings hidden. He has never been in greater command of his talents: the genius of the set-ups, the pay-offs that generate more pay-offs, the luminous and perceptive language, the sensuous evocation of Lisbon, the re-creation of the sheer uncertainty in the face of Hitler's relentless advance. --Nick DiMartino, Nick's Picks, University Book Store, Seattle, Wash.