Introduction

A legendary hotel on the Pacific becomes a haven where dreams, love, and a beguiling mystery come alive.

1958. Kate Morgan, tethered to her family’s failing San Francisco restaurant, is looking for an escape. She gets her chance by honoring a cryptic plea from her grandfather: find the beautiful stranger. The search takes her to Hotel del Coronado, the beachfront landmark on the Southern California coast where filming is underway on the movie Some Like It Hot.

For a movie lover like Kate, it’s a fantasy come true. So is the offer of a position at the glamorous hotel. And a new romance is making her heart beat just as fast. But as sure as she is that Coronado is her future, Kate discovers it’s also where the ghosts of the past have come to stay. Sixty years ago a guest died tragically, and she still haunts the hotel’s halls.

As the lives of two women—generations apart—intertwine, Kate’s courageous journey could change more than she ever imagined. And with Coronado wending its way through her soul, she must follow her dreams…wherever they may lead.

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Excerpt

THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGERS by CAMILLE DI MAIO
Prologue
November 28, 1892
Tom disappeared several stations before we arrived in San Diego, which is just as well, since I have papers in my bag that will begin the process of my leaving him for good. We quarreled, and I am embarrassed to say that it was witnessed by a gentleman in our compartment. But I believe our words were vague enough that my identity, which I have gone to considerable lengths to conceal, will not come to light. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

Kate's loyalties are town between her parents, her grandfather, and her own dreams. Do you think she made the right decision in going to Coronado? Why or why not?

- We see two very different sides of Marilyn Monroe in this book: the movie star and the shy girl named Norma Jean. While she experienced that to an extreme degree, do you think that we all have versions of ourselves that we share depending on the situation? What was a time in your life where you found this especially difficult - or rewarding?

- Legend has it that the ghost of Kate Morgan is tied to the Hotel del Coronado, and the author imagines a story where her motherhood is very important to her even in the afterlife. What is a person/place/thing that you would be most likely to be attached to if you were a ghost?

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