• Age: 14 to 18
• Grade: 9 to 12
• Reading age: 7 to 10

Tara's life in Halifax is about as good as it gets--she gets top marks in her class, her parents are cool, she has a good part-time job, her boyfriend Ron edits an alternative paper.

Her life is especially good compared to her friend Janet's. Janet fights with her parents whenever she sees them, which isn't often. She spends more time begging for change on the street and crashing at the dismal squat locals call Hell's Hotel.

Soon, however, cracks start to appear in Tara's perfect life. When Ron writes an exposé on the kids who live at the Hotel, Tara is forced to question his motives. Things start falling apart, one by one: her grades slip, her friends drop her, her mom leaves town. When catastrophe hits Hell's Hotel, however, Tara and Janet find themselves relying on each other more than either expected. Together they aim to make big changes, in their city and in themselves.

Set against a gritty, inner-city background, Hell's Hotel examines the challenges teenagers face every day, in their comfortable homes and on the streets.

This book was originally published in 1984 as Dark End of Dream Street.

No one has a clearer view of Atlantic Canada's literary endeavours over the past twenty years than Lesley Choyce. He is the founder of the literary journal Pottersfield Portfolio, and the publisher of Pottersfield Press. He has edited several fiction anthologies and has been the in-house editor of many books from Pottersfield Press including Making Waves, a collection of stories by emerging authors from Atlantic Canada. He is the author of more than fifty books in genres ranging from poetry and essays to autobiography, history and fiction for adults, young adults, and children. Among his recent books are the novels The Republic of Nothing, World Enough, and Cold Clear Morning, and the story collection Dance the Rocks Ashore. Choyce is the writer, host, and co-producer of the popular literary show television program, Off the Page with Lesley Choyce, which is broadcast across the country on Vision TV. He also teaches in the English department of Dalhousie University in Halifax and is leader of the rock band The Surf Poets.

Lesley Choyce's profile page

• Commended, Best Books for Kids and Teens Selection 2010

"Hell's Hotel is a well-written, fast paced, entertaining book with interesting twists and turns."

Recommended.

CM - Volume XV, Number 21

Hell’s Hotel (SideStreets)