約翰·歐文（John Irving），被美國文壇泰鬥馮內古特喻為“美國最重要的幽默作傢”，是當代最知名的小說傢之一，他作品中所呈現的高超的說故事技巧與優美的文學性，使人們常將他與狄更斯和J. D. 塞林格等重量級小說傢相提並論。他的小說不僅贏得書評界的一緻推崇，而且叫好又叫座，是西方最暢銷的小說傢之一。

The first of my father s illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings， and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.So says John Berry， son of a hapless dreamer， brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings， and chronicler of the lives lived， the loves experienced， the deaths met， and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers， pet-bear owners， friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian， that is)， and playthings of mad fate， they "dream on" in a funny， sad， outrageous， and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Son of the Circus and A Prayer for Owen Meany."Like Garp， [THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE] is a startlingly original family saga that combines macabre humor with Dickensian sentiment and outrage at cruelty， dogmatism and injustice."--Time"Rejoice! John Irving has written another book according to your world....You must read this book."--Los Angeles Times"Spellbinding...Intensely human...A high-wire act of dazzling virtuosity."--Cosmopolitan