Russian Gentleman

“Funny, clever, and surprisingly optimistic… This novel is a charming story, comprehensive and rich in detail. It has a great love story, political situations, spies, family ties, and poetry. In terms of style, it is both a historical novel, a suspense story, and a love story.” —Bill Gates

“A great novel from every angle, with its unique charm, wit, and deeply insightful philosophy, it brings endless reading pleasure. Even a cruel era cannot extinguish human dignity, glory, and memory.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This is a book about escaping the mundane. A Gentleman in Moscow has a brilliant structure and exquisite prose… All of this is reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.” —The Times

“Thanks to the tailor, the chef, the bartender, and the doorman, Rostov is able to escape the various intrusions of the state. The excellent narrative effect the author achieves at the end is not in the moments of miracles and coincidences, but in how the surrounding staff have changed significantly over decades, becoming confidants, peers, and closest friends. With these people around him, being indefinitely confined to these magnificent halls also makes Rostov the luckiest man in Russia.” —The New York Times

In 1922, the Red regime swept across the Soviet Union.

A young nobleman from the Imperial Russian era,

Forced to spend the rest of his life in a luxurious hotel in Moscow.

He resisted his imprisoned fate with gentlemanly grace, and reminisced about the beauty of the past with taste,

In an era of drastic change, he became the least free yet most fortunate person.

In 1922, on the streets of Moscow, the newly established capital of the Soviet Union, the Metropol Hotel, standing near the Kremlin, became the cage where Count Alexander Rostov would spend the rest of his life.

Because of a poem sympathetic to the revolution, this nobleman escaped the death penalty, but was sentenced by the Bolshevik court to never step foot outside the hotel again. He was moved from his spacious luxury suite to a cramped attic on the roof, witnessing thirty years of Soviet transformation from a small room.

Although his life was confined to a small space, in turbulent times, being under house arrest became his protective charm. He transformed his room into his own palace, and even humbled himself to work as a maître d' in the restaurant, gradually changing his lifestyle and finding another meaning to his life.

At the hotel, he befriended a variety of characters: a spoiled and beautiful actress, an American captain interested in Soviet affairs, a Red Army colonel curious about the Western world. He also gained genuine friendships from ordinary people like the hotel chef, manager, tailor, and roof repairman.

What he didn't expect was that the chance encounter with a precocious nine-year-old girl named Nina would become a turning point in both their lives…

A Gentleman in Moscow is Amor Towles's powerful follow-up to his sensational bestselling debut, Rules of Civility, five years later. The witty dialogues, impressive characters, and exquisite dramas unfolding one after another in the book depict Moscow's most chaotic, turbulent, yet charming period. Set in the early 20th century Soviet Union, the author portrays how a noble gentleman, having lost his luxurious life, finds spiritual richness and freedom in scarcity. The writing is humorous, provokes philosophical thought, and deeply explores the meaning of being human.

Celebrity Recommendations

Selected and recommended by Obama, Tom Hanks, Bill Gates

Media Reviews

“Funny, clever, and surprisingly optimistic… This novel is a charming story, comprehensive and rich in detail. It has a great love story, political situations, spies, family ties, and poetry. In terms of style, it is both a historical novel, a suspense story, and a love story.” —Bill Gates

“Irresistible… In his second elegant period piece, Towles again explores how one can live an authentic life even in the struggle for survival… The story, like the ornate filigree of a Russian egg, radiates the golden age of Tolstoy and Turgenev.” —O, The Oprah Magazine

“Thanks to the tailor, the chef, the bartender, and the doorman, Rostov is able to escape the various intrusions of the state. The excellent narrative effect the author achieves at the end is not in the moments of miracles and coincidences, but in how the surrounding staff have changed significantly over decades, becoming confidants, peers, and closest friends. With these people around him, being indefinitely confined to these magnificent halls also makes Rostov the luckiest man in Russia.” —The New York Times

“A great novel from every angle, with its unique charm, wit, and deeply insightful philosophy, it brings endless reading pleasure. Even a cruel era cannot extinguish human dignity, glory, and memory.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This is a book about escaping the mundane. A Gentleman in Moscow has a brilliant structure and exquisite prose… All of this is reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.” —The Times

“If you're looking for a novel to read on holiday, this is a good choice. The story is beautifully written, describing a Russian nobleman trapped in Moscow during the turbulent 1930s. Full of intelligence, erudition, and insight, a novel that perfectly embodies the old-fashioned.” —Fareed Zakaria, Indian-American journalist and author, CNN's "Global Public Square"

“With a charming protagonist and the peculiar world he inhabits, Towles effortlessly stands out.” —The New Yorker

“In this chaotic era, Amor Towles achieves the beauty of this novel with old-world elegance.” —The Washington Post

“This work is full of adventures, love, twists of fate, and ridiculous farcical moments, and it is full of vitality.” —The Wall Street Journal

“This book is like a balm. I thought the modern world had lost its sense of order, but the count in the story, with his refinement and gentleness, is exactly what we crave.” —Ann Patchett, American novelist

“A very successful and stylish novel.” —NPR (National Public Radio)

“Like Towles's first work, Rules of Civility, it is grand and intricate.” —Entertainment Weekly

Other unrelated images (so-called stock for drawing):

My test articles always sneak in daily life of handsome boys (chuckles).

So many pictures yet to be drawn~~~QQQQ