History Pie Literary Society: A Gentleman in Moscow

I thought I’d start Book #1 in this series with perhaps my favorite read of 2025: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

I actually saw previews of the series, but it’s a streaming service we don’t subscribe to, and I haven’t seen it. I saw some interesting reviews of the book, then a voracious reader friend, Yelena Howell, recommended the book.

It is historical fiction and takes place in Russia after the 1917 Revolution. The main character,
Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, is raised by Grand Duke Deminov after the count’s parents die of cholera when he is 11. He and his sister become socialites and part of the aristocracy, but Rostov has to leave the country for Paris after he injures a man while defending his sister.

When he returns to Russia after the revolution, he is immediately arrested for “social parasitism.” He is, of course, convicted and several members of the tribunal want to have him shot, but others remember a revolutionary poem that was published and attributed to him. He is spared the firing squad, but confined to the Hotel Metropol — for life. If he tries to leave, he will be shot.

And that’s where adventures take place over a sliding timeline that eventually spans decades. He mets a friend, Nina, a love interest, and several unsavory characters as well as those who would like to see him get “justice.” There are plenty of turns and twists and the ending is a very satisfying and thrilling ride.

There are themes of family and parenthood, duty, maintaining one’s moral code, and friendship. My favorite part might be the idea of freedom and confinement and how that is given a twist. A man’s life is spared and he’s confined to a luxury hotel — where he has some freedoms, but in some ways, he’s clearly imprisoned. I guess I haven’t stayed in a hotel nice enough that I thought I could last more than two weeks.

This was my first read of a book by Amor Towles, and the writing is gorgeous. I’ll admit to skimming longish novels and nonfiction works at times, but there was just none of that with this book. While it is fiction, it really gives an interesting view of the changes in Russia in the first half of the 20th Century.

It was so good, that before the year was over, I read two more books by Towles, The Lincoln Highway and Rules of Civility. I enjoyed both and may cover them eventually, but A Gentleman was the best of the three. The writing is so good, it would make up for any shortcomings in the plot, but it is solid and never seemed to lag for me.

There is much to enjoy about elegance, manners, the past, and coming to terms with the sharp turns the Count’s life takes over time. It is easy to get invested in the story and feel what Rostov is experiencing from highs to lows.

I can’t recommend this book enough. It is one of the best I’ve read in the last several years.

Note: In 2021, I made a blog post about the little known story of U.S. troops being involved in the Russian Revolution. You can go straight to that short read here.

*If you’d like to discuss the book or ask questions, use the Comments. Due to the insane number of bots and scammers my website fends off daily, I will have to approve the comments, and will get to them as quickly as possible. Don’t think your comment didn’t go through if you don’t see it immediately.

**Some things to consider for discussion: what if your prison was a luxury a hotel, but you could not leave the building the rest of your life? What if no one from your past life could have contact with you? How hard would it be to find joy? What would you think about once your sentence starting adding up in years?

***Writing Prompt: I’ve had several requests for writing prompts to help people people get their creativity going. This should be fun. I always start creative writing classes but giving the students an idea and then they just write without stopping or editing for about 5-10 minutes. So take this where you will:

You’ve gone to your favorite place for vacation, but something has happened — war, a crime, a dystopian event – and now you can never leave. What do you do? Take the story from there.