A Gentleman in Moscow. Amor Towes  2016  480 pages

In 1922, an aristocratic count from the tsarist era is accused of writing a poem critical of the newish Bolshevik government, and a Soviet tribunal sentences him to house arrest in the famous and luxurious Metrpol Hotel on Red Square across from the Kremlin for the rest of his life. The description of his adaptation to this restriction over the next forty years by maintaining his dignity, tolerance, loyalty, and good manners is striking and heartwarming. The changing lives of various guests and workers at the hotel, and the pervasive political atmosphere of suspicion, intrigue and fear as they interact are central features of this epic historical novel. 

Do not read this book for the action or suspense-there is very little of either. What there is is a powerful depiction of one human being’s resilience and adaptability. The ability to find some tiny exquisite pleasure in the midst of extreme hardship, betrayal, and persecution may be a feature of the Russian character, or just those portrayed in Russian historical novels, but it is carefully portrayed here. In this respect it reminded me most of Solzhenitsyn’s A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and his The Gulag Archipelago, and Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago, among others.

There are many memorable quotes in this beautiful story. Among my favourites it this:  ‘For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim.’ Or perhaps:  ‘If patience wasn’t so easily tested, then it would not be a virtue.’ Or even ‘It is a fact of human life that one must eventually chose a philosophy.’ 

The author has pointed out that the doubling of the time intervals between chapters in the first half of the story and the halting of them in the second half is a metaphor for the way we seem to experience the evolution of our lives. This was lost on me until he pointed it out, although it is, in retrospect, very apt.

Amor Towes’s background as a former New York City investment banker makes him an unlikely novelist. He has said that the inspiration for this book came from his familiarity with the lives lived in luxury hotels around the world in his former occupation. Unlike most novelists who turn to writing in midlife and turn out a bestselling debut, his first novel, Rules of Civility is quite bland and unimaginative compared to this one, his second. 

Kenneth Branagh is to produce and star in a movie adaptation of this story. I will certainly watch it when it arrives, although I have often been disappointed in film adaptations of great novels. Do not wait for the movie, but be sure to read this beautiful story.