One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | Shortly after the Russian revolution, a White Russian count is spared execution because of a subversive poem he wrote defying authority before the fall of the Czar and is, instead, exiled to an attic room in a luxury hotel in the heart of Moscow, where he once enjoyed a luxurious suite and all the amenities that wealth could provide.
As he adapts to his house arrest, we follow his encounters with the motley denizens, employees and visitors of the hotel and watch how his state of mind changes alongside the Russia outside the walls of the hotel. Both meditative and, at times, truculent, this also forms a parallel history of Russia over the following forty years or so until the death of Stalin and for a narrative isolated inside a closed locale becomes amazingly broad in scope, reflective, expansive and so often terribly moving, albeit with much wit and humour.
Unforgettable characters, both fictional and real life, a web of subtle relationships: all human life is here and a triumphant follow-up to Towles' debut novel which had been set in the glitter of New York in the 1930s. Long but wonderfully rewarding, this will make you laugh, cry and smile, an epic that never even moves outside the hotel's lobby! Loved it. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
February 2017 MEGA Book of the Month.
The Lovereading view...
Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, the gentleman of the title, is not executed with his fellow aristocrats for he had already left Russia at the start of the Revolution and he returns in 1918. This mystifies the Bolshevik tribunal he stands before in 1922. He wrote a poem which is deemed a call to arms, but for which side? So he is placed under house arrest for life. Conveniently his address for the last four years has been The Hotel Metropol, the best in Moscow. Now moved to humble rooms in the old servant quarters in the belfry, he nonetheless has the run of the beautiful establishment, the restaurants and bar. He makes friends with the servants and guests alike and is dubbed by an old student friend who has suffered in the Gulag, “the luckiest man in Russia”. Intrigue, romance and friendship pepper the years as we follow the Count from 1922 to 1954, a time of huge change as a new Russia is created. With a nod towards the period in its style and lots of philosophy, I wouldn’t say this was compulsive but it is strangely hypnotic, one is certainly drawn to it although it isn’t an easy read. It is a comfortable book to be with despite its horrific span in history for imprisoned in his hotel, Rostov is indeed one of the luckiest in Russia. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
Click here to read a Q&A with the author about this book.
A collectible 10th anniversary edition of Amor Towles' modern classic that has captivated millions of readers.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
A collectible 10th anniversary edition of Amor Towles' modern classic that has captivated millions of readers.This deluxe hardcover edition of A Gentleman in Moscow includes:A limited edition jacket with foil and embossingBeautifully designed and stencilled edgesIllustrated endpapersIn 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal and is sentencer to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel's doors.
A Gentleman in Moscow features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Books of the Month, Books with reviews by our Reader Review Panel, Historical Fiction, Book Club Recommendations, eBooks of the Month, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Hardback, Paperback, CD-Audio. £27.00, down from the £30.00 cover price. In Stock.
A Gentleman in Moscow was written by Amor Towles and published by Hutchinson Heinemann an imprint of Cornerstone
A Gentleman in Moscow has 480 pages
£27.00, reduced from £30.00. In Stock.
.jpg)
-126x200.jpg)