The Electric Hotel

The magic and mystery of cinema in its early days are brilliantly evoked in [this] absorbing, multilayered novel...Exhilarating in its evocation of the creativity of early cinema, and melancholy in its acknowledgement of the passing of time and the dying of dreams, The Electric Hotel is an impressive work. * Sunday Times *
radiant...a vital and highly entertaining work about the act of creation...so vivid we can imagine every frame * New York Times Book Review *
A love letter to the early days of cinema...Smith writes with passion and detail about an extraordinary period in cultural history. * The Times *
Smith has the historical grounding of E.L. Doctorow, the character discernment of Alice McDermott and the bold whimsy of Mark Helprin. He is a writer of elegance, rich imagination and propulsive plotting. * Washington Post *
a novel of . . . epic scope. [...] He brings home . . . how complex silent movies were to make, and how innovative and daring their makers had to be. * The Australian *
Claude Ballard and Sabine Montrose's "Electric Hotel" lives, sadly, only within the pages of this novel. It's the ultimate lost film, unfindable and unseeable no matter how many drawers we open or vaults we scour - and yet so vivid we can imagine every frame, tiger and all. -- Stephanie Zacharek * New York Times *
Smith . . . blends history and fiction to create a world where a tale of hope, love and loss all seems real. * The West Australian *
Fiendishly clever and beautifully written. * The Times on THE LAST PAINTING OF SARA DE VOS *
Smith has pulled off something authentic: a complex novel, full of painterly description, that slides between centuries with surprising fluidity. * Sunday Telegraph on THE LAST PAINTING OF SARA DE VOS *
Gliding gracefully from grungy 1950s Brooklyn to the lucent interiors of Golden Age Holland and the sun-splashed streets of contemporary Sydney, the novel links the lives of two troubled, enigmatic, and hugely talented young women, one of them an artist, the other, her forger. A page-turning book with much to say about the pain and exhilaration of art and life. -- Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of PEOPLE OF THE BOOK on THE LAST PAINTING OF SARA DE VOS
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos is a story told in layers of light. From afar, this novel is so beautiful, the prose so clear and vivid, that it seems effortless; on closer examination, one sees the rich thematic palette Dominic Smith has used. This is a novel of love and longing, of authenticity and ethical shadows, and, most compelling, of art as alchemy, the way that it can turn grief to profound beauty. -- Lauren Groff, author of FATES AND FURIES, on THE LAST PAINTING OF SARA DE VOS
An elegant page-turner that carries its erudition effortlessly on an energetic plot. * New York Times Book Review on THE LAST PAINTING OF SARA DE VOS *
an absorbing, multilayered novel... The Electric Hotel is an impressive work. * Sunday Times *
The Electric Hotel is a love letter to the early days of cinema... Dominic Smith writes with passion and detail about an extraordinary period in cultural history. * The Times (Ireland) *
This impressive novel evokes cinema's early days * The Times *