Fic­tion

The Lis­ten­ers

  • Review
By – June 2, 2025

The Lis­ten­ers, like all best nov­els, defies easy com­part­men­tal­iza­tion. In this book, Mag­gie Stief­vater brings read­ers to a lux­u­ri­ous hot springs hotel, where, in the midst of World War II, wealthy clients have their every need met. But like the min­er­al waters, this set­ting has mys­te­ri­ous depths; it is some­times benev­o­lent, some­times vile, some­times life-giv­ing, some­times nox­ious and threat­en­ing. While the resort is named the Aval­lon and presents an almost-Arthuri­an dreami­ness, its geo­graph­i­cal loca­tion is in West Vir­ginia, home to treach­er­ous coal mines and per­va­sive pover­ty. Aval­lon is seized by the gov­ern­ment as a tem­po­rary hold­ing pen for cap­tured diplo­mats from Impe­r­i­al Japan and Nazi Germany. 

The title of the nov­el evokes both the pas­siv­i­ty and the pow­er of lis­ten­ing rather than speak­ing. Among the lis­ten­ers” in the sto­ry is Sandy, a severe­ly wound­ed sol­dier who sits so impas­sive­ly in his wheel­chair that he is over­looked like fur­ni­ture; an unnamed, reclu­sive woman who resides per­ma­nent­ly in Room 411; and Han­nelore, a mute Ger­man girl whose par­ents are Nazis, and who makes sounds only by singing num­bers, with which she is obsessed. (Spec­i­fy­ing how many sec­onds events take, it is Han­nelore who seems to mark the fraught time in this nov­el like a count­down.) Also lis­ten­ing, at all times, is a vivid­ly drawn pro­tag­o­nist, June Hud­son. June is a bold young woman from a poor back­ground who, despite a local accent and the class snob­bery that mocks it, has worked her way up to become Avallon’s gen­er­al manager.

It is June who hears what the waters, them­selves also lis­ten­ers, seem to whis­per. She knows when they are benev­o­lent or rank, whether heal­ing or hurt­ing. Peri­od­i­cal­ly, she takes her­self to one of the hous­es on the estate to test these waters. The process is almost super­nat­ur­al; the springs are like a mag­ic mir­ror or sor­cer­er, threat­en­ing to absorb June, the hotel, and, per­haps, the entire world. In this way, they par­al­lel the encroach­ing chaos of the war.

The waters also seem to par­al­lel the roman­tic choic­es set before June: either the spoiled scion of the resort or an FBI agent whose iden­ti­ty, like hers, is a blend of volatile ele­ments. This man, Tuck­er Min­nick, is also a lis­ten­er, and a watch­er — he is the world­ly coun­ter­part of June, who has long ago decid­ed to make the hotel the only inhab­it­able place in her life. The Aval­lon is her domain, its own­ers her heroes, and staff her only fam­i­ly. As this oasis is increas­ing­ly breached by both Axis mem­bers and the hand­some gov­ern­ment agent, the waters rise up and with them, June’s true nature.

When the res­i­dent of Room 411 final­ly speaks, she declares, about mon­ey and sta­tus: I’m telling you the Aval­lon is for any­one who can pay for it. You don’t get any more moral­ly bank­rupt than unques­tion­ing lux­u­ry.” Her audi­ence is Tuck­er, who lis­tens to and ulti­mate­ly ques­tions every­thing. Fol­low­ing him, June, and the flow of this enig­mat­ic tale, we are led both to con­tend with and under­stand the com­plex­i­ties of the human heart.

Sonia Taitz is the author of six books, includ­ing the prize-win­ning Sec­ond-Gen­er­a­tion mem­oir, The Watch­mak­er’s Daugh­ter, and the nov­els In the King’s Arms and Great with Child. Praised by The New York TimesPeo­ple, The Chica­go Tri­bune, NPR, and Van­i­ty Fair, she recent­ly com­plet­ed a book called Grow­ing a Soul, depict­ing a jour­ney of spir­i­tu­al ascen­sion through the stages of one’s life.

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