Decadently delightful, well written, with smooth sentences and with strong characters, interlacing relationships that display various working and social engagements in a decade that blinkered on the edge of the end of European gentry. The voids of social class began to close with the imminent war pushing the boundaries even further. The setting of the Buckingham hotel is enchanting and Maynard Charles who runs the hotel is displayed as compassionate, regardless of his various duties. This becomes most evident when he permits a guest who is unable to return to his home in Vienna, due to the invasion of the nazi soldiers. He holds a father like figure to the staff that he is in charge of and is respected by them as well as his guests. Raymond and Helene are the star dancers to the recently refurbished ballroom and Raymond and his betrothal to Nancy plays a pivotal role in the telling of this tale. The disquiet in the world is destined to bring a disastrous end to this glamorous and euphoric hotel.