Hotel Splendide by Ludwig Bemelmans

 

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in 1911 Wikipedia Commons

This was a light and charming memoir by Bemelmans allowing the reader to look behind the scenes at the life of waiters in a high-class hotel (the Ritz-Carlton) in New York. Ludwig Bemelmans arrived from Austria in 1914 so this really is a glance at a grand hotel in the early 20th century. Bemelmans manages to charm the dictatorial Monsieur Victor, help a hapless waiter who can't do anything right, a young waiter who longs to go back to his home town in Austria, and generally survives the tough backstairs world with great ingenuity. 

The part that I liked best was when he shares a luxurious apartment with its own library with an eccentric tailor and they have a great time (admittedly very late after a long day's work) eating caviar every night! His trip back to Austria with the young waiter who came from his home town was also a lovely story. I also enjoyed his drawings. These stories are extremely old-fashioned with language from the era - I didn't mind this but it's worth remembering when you read them.

Bemelmans wrote the wonderful Madeline books, which I didn't read as a child, but I hope to look at them now.

I received this free ebook from Edelweiss.plus in return for an honest review.