Forsyte's Retreat

A veteran hotel manager with a history of drinking seeks anonymity on the coast and unexpectedly accepts a general-manager post at the Mahoney-Plaza, a compact but curiously overbooked hotel. He confronts baffling logistics—far more occupants than rooms, lettered elevators serving separate wings, and brusque, unsettled staff—while trying to maintain decorum and restore order. Practical details of hiring, firing, and immediate crises reveal both his practiced competence and his craving for solitude. The narrative mixes comic misadventure with observations about loneliness, identity, and the thinly veiled chaos behind polished hospitality.