Why a Booktrail?
1920s: A wicked fairytale of circus tricks and child prodigies – a story of abuse too so be warned.
The Lonely Hearts Hotel
What you need to know before your trail
Two children, two dreamers are abandoned in an orphanage where it seems they were fated to meet. In the face of cold, hunger and unpredictable beatings, Rose and Pierrot create a world of their own, as they are different to other children. They entertain the others by doing somersaults, tricks, performances for the others.
When they meet again, each will have changed, having struggled through the Depression. But their childhood vision remains – a dream to storm the world, a spectacle, an extravaganza that will lift them out of the gutter and onto a glittering stage.
Travel Guide
The orphanage
Their years at the orphanage are the most unhappy of their lives and the most upsetting of the novel. Rose and Pierrot are brutally abused – both physically and emotionally by the nuns who run the orphanage and who are supposed to be taking care of the children in their care. There are many children sexually abused which provide for painful and uncomfortable reading.
Later, Pierrot visits children in a hospital and the language hits home:
“They were like tiny battlefield veterans, injured by the trials of being young , in the Great Children’s War. Perhaps he himself had never escaped his childhood wounds. The only difference was that these children wore their injuries on the outside.”
Montreal and New York of the 1920s
The world of the two cities, their theatres and theatrical landscapes is a sight to behold. Despite the poverty and the Depression, the cities come alive with the hustle and bustle of the time. The horses and carts, the bright lights of the theatre and the smell of greasepaint. Interesting to note that 42nd street, now so revered for it being the heart of theatreland, was once known for its brothels and whorehouses.
In New York, the New Amsterdam Theatre is a place to visit in order to see and feel the book’s circus and theatre landscape.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Lonely Hearts Hotel
Author/Guide: Heather O’Neill Destination: Montreal, New York City Departure Time: 1920s
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