The Dream Hotel

And I think it actually starts off really cleverly, doesn't it? That, you know, I guess if you've read the book blurb, you sense there's going to be more.

But I think that incredible potential relatability at the beginning of this tired working mum.

She's been on a business trip.

There is the guilt always.

of the fact that actually she's had a really nice time, although she has been working really hard and is going to have jet lag, that she has left her husband with their toddler twins, been on a bit of jolly, and she's on her way back, and he said he's going to pick her up, and she's really glad because she wants to see him and she wants to see the kids.

And actually, it's really interesting that through that first bit of, as she's called, way... you know, into this security center, all her worries are, oh God, he's going to have to do another lap round.

We'd booked a table to go out for lunch.

I hope the twins aren't too upset because actually her schema of the world is as we want it to be.

The world is a fair place.

And sometimes there are a few glitches.

And isn't this an irritation to be taken away from to be interrogated at no point does she think that she's at risk because she, you know, after all, who is she? You know, she's a professional woman and she's got a good job.

She pays her taxes.

She does all the right things.

She's going to be fine.

So this is just routine.

And I love that beginning because you just think it's relatable.

This could be any of us.

Yeah, she's doing all the right things, isn't she? She works, she looks after her children, she's married.

She considers herself low risk, despite what the score says.

It's like a technicality, isn't it? An annoyance, an irritation.

Yeah.

And I was thinking about, as she's looking around, I think it's really important.

We think this isn't a dystopian future, but it's relatable and believable enough in certain elements to seem familiar.

And it made me think of a situation a few years ago when...

I was flying back from holiday, can't remember where I'd been, somewhere in Europe.