A Gentleman in Moscow

Count Alexander Rostov is a Russian aristocrat who is confined to grand hotel Metropol in Moscow across from the Kremlin in a Bolshevik tribunal in 1922. A Gentleman in Moscow chronicles Alexander's decades-long house arrest in the hotel.

At the start of his house arrest, the erudite count is forced to vacate his room and pack up to the attic of the hotel. Despite the insults, Rostov maintains his dignity as the communist party reshapes the country.

The book is a fantastic character study and a beautiful absorbing story. The Metropol becomes Alexander's microcosm where East and West still meet. Through Alexander's eyes, A Gentleman in Moscow provides a description of Russia's early communist decades that feels surprisingly intimate.

Rostov's life in confinement unfurls richer than one might expect. He finds love and purpose along the way. With an interesting twist at the end.

I highly recommend this book. I listened to the audiobook, which is fantastically narrated by Nicholas Guy Smith.

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