Elizabeth Bowen’s classic story of the famous Dublin landmark, the Shelbourne Hotel, is a wonderfully evocative account of Dublin life through more than a century. Looking out on Dublin as if from the windows of the Shelbourne, and then turning inward to witness the impact of events on the hotel, its guests and staff, Elizabeth Bowen presents a skilful picture of what was, in the hotel’s earlier days, the second city of the Empire, then the battleground of Irish independence and Irish civil strife, and eventually the capital of a republic.