A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
undefined

Get your first book for just $9.99.

Join today.

We’ll make this quick.

First, enter your email. Then choose your move.

By pressing "Pick a book now" or "Pick a book later", you agree to Book of the Month’s Terms of use and Privacy policy.

Get your first book for just $9.99.

Join today.

You did it!

Your account is now up to date.

get the app

Our app is where it’s at.

Unlock our Reading Challenge, earn prizes, and get notified of new books on our app.

Our app is where it’s at.

Unlock our Reading Challenge, earn prizes, and get notified of new books on our app.

Download on the App Store
Get it on Google Play

Already have the app? Explore here.

birthday coupon modal image

A birthday treat.

Celebrate your birthday with a free add-on in your June box. It's our way of saying happy birthday, BFF.

Please confirm your age.

Are you 0 years old?

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Historical fiction

A Gentleman in Moscow

2016 LOLLY FINALIST

by Amor Towles

Excellent choice

Just enter your email to add this book to your box.

By pressing "Add to box", you agree to Book of the Month’s Terms of use and Privacy policy.

The gates are closed.

You’re on the waitlist. We’ll email you once you can enroll.

Save $ with BOTM.

Quick take

This book's pleasures are in the details. It is layered with delicious, minute observation, so that you never want to skip over passages.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, 400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Slow_Build

    Slow build

  • Illustrated icon, International

    International

  • Illustrated icon, Critically_Acclaimed

    Critically acclaimed

Synopsis

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced 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. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

Read a sample

Get an early look from the first pages of A Gentleman in Moscow.

A Gentleman in Moscow

21 June 1922

APPEARANCE OF COUNT ALEXANDER ILYICH ROSTOV BEFORE THE EMERGENCY COMMITTEE OF THE PEOPLE’S COMMISSARIAT FOR INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Presiding: Comrades V. A. Ignatov, M. S. Zakovsky, A. N. Kosarev

Prosecuting: A. Y. Vyshinsky

Prosecutor Vyshinsky: State your name.

Rostov: Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt.

Vyshinsky: You may have your titles; they are of no use to anyone else. But for the record, are you not Alexander Rostov, born in St. Petersburg, 24 October 1889?

Rostov: I am he.

Vyshinsky: Before we begin, I must say, I do not think that I have ever seen a jacket festooned with so many buttons.

Rostov: Thank you.

Vyshinsky: It was not meant as a compliment.

Rostov: In that case, I demand satisfaction on the field of honor.

[Laughter.]

Secretary Ignatov: Silence in the gallery.

Vyshinsky: What is your current address?

Rostov: Suite 317 at the Hotel Metropol, Moscow.

Vyshinsky: How long have you lived there?

Rostov: I have been in residence since the fifth of September 1918. Just under four years.

Vyshinsky: And your occupation?

Rostov: It is not the business of gentlemen to have occupations.

Vyshinsky: Very well then. How do you spend your time?

Rostov: Dining, discussing. Reading, reflecting. The usual rigmarole.

Vyshinsky: And you write poetry?

Rostov: I have been known to fence with a quill.

Create a free account!

Sign up to see book details, our quick takes, and more.

By pressing "Sign up", you agree to Book of the Month’s Terms of use and Privacy policy.

Other books by Amor Towles

Critically acclaimed
Tell Me Everything
Somebody's Daughter
Win Me Something
Crying in H Mart
Beautiful Country
Damnation Spring
The Other Black Girl
Things We Lost to the Water
Libertie
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
Infinite Country
The Prophets
Memorial
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Transcendent Kingdom
The Death of Vivek Oji
Evicted
A Burning
The Sympathizer
Trick Mirror
A Gentleman in Moscow
Critically acclaimed
View all
Tell Me Everything
Somebody's Daughter
Win Me Something
Crying in H Mart
Beautiful Country
Damnation Spring
The Other Black Girl
Things We Lost to the Water
Libertie
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
Infinite Country
The Prophets
Memorial
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Transcendent Kingdom
The Death of Vivek Oji
Evicted
A Burning
The Sympathizer
Trick Mirror
A Gentleman in Moscow