An Alchemy Of Roots & Ink

You may not be surprised to learn that I’m a bit of a bookworm. Or that being so colours the way I see the world. For instance, the sculpted roots across the ceiling of the Under Hill Suite remind me of another forest: the ancient, living world of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted.

If you’re planning to do a little reading during your stay with us, allow me to suggest pairing our Under Hill Suite with Uprooted.

Grown, Not Built

In Uprooted, magic is wild and intuitive. Its main character, Agnieszka’s spells are messy rather than orderly, and the story does not treat perfection as the goal.

That makes Uprooted feel like a natural book to read inside the Under Hill. The hand-sculpted texture and organic curves of the suite create a setting that echoes the untamed forest of Novik’s story.

There is something particularly fitting about reading it beneath these roots, surrounded by earthen walls. The room and the novel share a feeling of something ancient and alive.

An Alternative for a Rainy Afternoon

And, if you’d like something shorter, I’d recommend Novik’s novella The Summer War, which follows a young witch navigating the twin magics of mortal and immortal realms.

It is another book that belongs naturally in the Under Hill Suite: a rainy afternoon, a cup of tea, and a few pages of Novik.

Take your time. Read slowly. Let the roots overhead and the forest on the page become part of the same world.