BUCHVERNISSAGE 'LIEBE, VERRAT UNI TOD IM HOTEL OFENHORN'

For the third time, IG Zweitwohnungen Goms is organizing a book launch in connection with the unconventional, fascinating Englishman Vincent Donovan (1882-1940).

Together with

IGZW Goms is one of the sponsors of this new publication, which is closely linked to our local history.

At the age of 16, Vincent spent a vacation with his father, a deeply pious Anglican pastor, at the Hotel Ofenhorn in Binn. This stay inspired him to write his novel AHeroine of Reality, which he published in 1903 as a 21-year-old student at Oxford University in London. The book was intended as easy-to-read, entertaining vacation literature for English hotel guests in foreign vacation destinations. The whole story - part romance novel, part thriller, part accurate description of nature

description of nature - takes place in the Binntal, particularly in the Hotel Ofenhorn. The bestseller made headlines at the time, even causing a scandal in the press.

Donovan's stay in Reckingen (1929-1939) also made headlines. The wealthy

hotel guest moved into a miserable, tiny hut on the banks of the Rhone and in summer into a cave dwelling in the Blinnen Valley - initially as the richest man in the village, later in the person of Franca Kraig as the poorest person in Reckingen, who was constantly struggling to survive.

Now, 123 years after its publication, Donovan's novel is being published for the first time in its German translation under the title Nachsaison im Hotel Ofenhorn. The story not only provides an

insight into the "Belle Époque" of tourism in Goms, but also captivates the reader today as it did then.

The book is published by historian Dr. Werner Bellwald in his publishing house Les Valaisanneries. The guest speaker is Dr. Sean Williams, a lecturer at the University of Sheffield, who is researching the life and work of Vincent Donovan in England.

We are delighted to share with you the publication of the German translation of Donovan's novel. You are all cordially invited to this book launch, members, locals, second locals and guests.