Published: 02/11/2017
Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month for November 2017
A New York Times Bestseller
On 21 June, 1922, Count Alexander Rostov - recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt - is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol.
Instead of being taken to his usual suite, he is led to an attic room with a window the size of a chessboard. Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely.
While Russia undergoes decades of tumultuous upheaval, the Count, stripped of the trappings that defined his life, is forced to question what makes us who we are. And with the assistance of a glamorous actress, a cantankerous chef and a very serious child, Rostov unexpectedly discovers a new understanding of both pleasure and purpose.
From the author of the Waterstones’ bestseller Rules of Civility comes a book about the salvation inherent in mutual understanding and respect and an awakened sense of the possibility of wonder.
Publisher: Cornerstone
ISBN: 9780099558781
Number of pages: 512
Weight: 351 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 30 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'A work of great charm, intelligence and insight.' - Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times
'Elegant sentences, wonderful characters and inventive storytelling . . . This is everything a novel should be: charming, witty, poetic and generous. An absolute delight.' - The Mail on Sunday
'A comic masterpiece . . . very funny, tender and as laughably accurate an account of the dismal nature of life in Soviet Russia as one could hope for . . . Quite apart from the ingeniously ludicrous plot and the acutely drawn characters, what adds to the joy of this book is the precision of Towles' style. Again and again he conveys exactly the right impression with a deliciously surprising choice of words . . . a sheer delight.' - William Hartson,The Daily Express
'There is so, so much to love in this book as we keep company with the endlessly entertaining Count . . .[This] novel is wistful, whimsical and wry and elegantly captures that most apposite of lessons: 'By the smallest of one's actions, one can restore some sense of order to the world'. Brilliant. - Eithne Farry, The Sunday Express
'I think the world feels so disordered right now. The count's refinement and genteel nature are exactly what we're longing for. His world was also in shambles but he maintained his grace and humor.' - Ann Patchett
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