Very much enjoyed the account of Buffy and his foray into the B&B business. The characters are so well developed and the story features so many moments that made me chuckle as I recognised the truth in the situation as it played out. ( )

Read my review of this novel on Joh Blogs - Heartbreak Hotel by Deborah Moggach ( )

One of my favourite authors takes another sympathetic look at individuals making their way through life. An aging, working actor inherits an old b&b in a small town in Wales and sets out to start again (as he has so often throughout his romantic life). He dubs it the Heartbreak Hotel and schedules educational holidays, with classes for the recently-separated in all the skills for which they relied on their partners. Heartwarming ensues. ( )

Deborah Moggach...didn't she write The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel? Yes, she did indeed - I loved that book - and the movie!

Moggach's new release, Heartbreak Hotel is just as heartwarming!

Retired actor Russell 'Buffy' Buffery has lived a rich full life, but now he finds himself somewhat lonely living in London. He doesn't know his neighbours, its noisy and crowded and his children (and there are many from assorted wives and liaisons!) are busy with their own lives. When an old flame leaves him her bed and breakfast in rural Wales, he decides to move in and run the place himself.

"...a new career beckoned. Luxuriantly bearded, his cheeks ruddy with claret, Buffy could take centre stage again, welcoming guests into his charming B and B in the picturesque town of Knockton, wherever that was. Log fires, bonhomie, brass beds made for lusty couplings - adulterers welcome! His Full English Breakfast, all organic of course, would become legendary. Perhaps he could even raise his own pigs."

Uh huh. The B and B isn't quite what he pictured - it needs a little work and the whole running of a B and B might be a bit more work than Buffy had thought.....

I loved this character. He's a rascal, but a lovable one. He's got the gift of gab and folks naturally gravitate towards him, spilling their thoughts over a glass of something. Moggach introduces a number of other characters, all unhappy with their relationships - or lack thereof. And Buffy has a revelation - he could run Courses for Divorces! All the skills that newly singles might need - car maintenance, gardening and more. Brilliant! The place will be booked solid! (You can take some of these courses on Deborah's website)

Moggach fills her novel and the B and B will a wonderfully quirky cast of characters and situations. Through the ruminations and lives of Buffy and company, Moggach dissects, explores and celebrates love - of all kinds and of all ages. There are many supporting players, but it was Buffy I enjoyed the most.

Me? I'd love to have a little cottage in Knockton and stroll down the pub for a natter. Heartbreak Hotel was a humourous, touching, fun to read novel sure to appeal to those who loved 'Marigold'. Read an excerpt of Heartbreak Hotel.

I mentioned I love the movie of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - and have just discovered The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has just been released. I would love to see Heartbreak Hotel made into a movie as well. I can totally picture Timothy Spall as Buffy. ( )

There's something charming about the idea of bed and breakfasts as opposed to hotels. Since most owners live in the B and B and take care of all aspects of their guests' stays, they have a personal and homely feel to them that you don't find in a larger hotel. And if you have a garrulous innkeeper, you have an automatic friend, someone who, like a bartender, is willing to listen to the stories and circumstances of your life and sometimes even offer advice. In Deborah Moggach's newest novel, Heartbreak Hotel, there is one such innkeeper in the shabby but still perfectly appealing Myrtle House.

Russell Buffery, called Buffy, is a retired actor living in London. He has three ex-wives, a couple of ex-mistresses, and children and stepchildren. Amazingly, he maintains a cordial relationship of some sort with most of them. When an old friend dies and leaves him a bed and breakfast just over the border in Wales, he surprises everyone (including himself) by deciding to move to Knockton and take on the running of the place. It is a bit run down at the heels and despite not having enough money to do much more than patch, Buffy finds that he rather likes being the friendly, welcoming host. But he needs to fill his rooms on more than just the weekends. Then he has the bright idea to offer instructional weekends for those who have just gotten out of a relationship. The classes are intended to teach the newly single to do all of the things that their spouse or partner used to do for them, like gardening, car maintenance, cooking, basic home repair, and Buffy's own course: how to talk to women. The classes are a moderate success and they bring in a wide cast of characters, among them Harold, a blocked writer whose wife has left him for a woman; Monica, a driven businesswoman who finally realizes that her affair with her married lover meant very little to him and cost her almost a decade of her life; Amy, a movie makeup artist whose long term, rather lackluster, live-in lover surprised her by leaving one day; and Andy, the handsome postman whose marriage to a woman he never really knew well has fizzled out. Add in Buffy's children; Voda, who cooks and cleans for the hotel; and Nolan, still living with his mother and made redundant at his job until he's hired to run the car maintenance course, and you have a whole stew of lonelyhearts trying to learn livable skills, how to be in charge of everything in their own lives, and even how to love or find happiness in the world again.

The characters are pitiable but loveable and each one is grappling with a unique heartbreak situation. Their tenure at Myrtle House will change all of them. Buffy himself will be changed too as he looks back at the past failures in his interpersonal relationships and learns new ways of being with people from his guests. All of the disappointed in love are given extensive backstories, detailing the failed relationships that sent them to Buffy's to learn some heretofore unneeded life skill. While the in-depth information on each of the characters is, in fact, necessary to the story, the way that they are interspersed with Buffy's story, and oftentimes quite removed from their appearance at the bed and breakfast, can make it hard to remember which person at the hotel belongs to which backstory. But the story is engaging and sweet and Moggach is great at getting the reader to appreciate the myriad of quirky characters. There are moments of biting humor that help keep this from becoming over the top and Moggach seems to have a sure sense of when to use a light hand and when to push reality a bit more. While the characters may not learn what they intended to learn when they signed up for their course at Myrtle House, they do learn important things about the power of reinvention and change in this inviting and ultimately heartwarming novel. ( )