Un caballero en Moscú

Sentenced to death by the Bolsheviks in 1922, Count Aleksandr Ilyich Rostov escapes his tragic fate through an unexpected twist of destiny. Thanks to a subversive poem he had written ten years earlier, the revolutionary committee commutes his sentence to an unprecedented form of house arrest: the aristocrat must spend the rest of his days in the Metropol Hotel, a microcosm of Russian society and a conspicuous symbol of the luxury and decadence that the new regime has vowed to eradicate. This curious story forms the basis of Amor Towles' second novel, which, after receiving countless accolades for his debut novel, Rules of Civility, solidifies his position as one of the most interesting American writers of the moment. Erudito, refined, and chivalrous, Rostov is a regular guest at the legendary Metropol, located a short distance from the Kremlin and the Bolshoi Theatre. Despite being in his thirties, he has no known profession and has devoted himself with genuine passion to the pleasures of reading and fine dining. Now, in this new and forced situation, he will construct an appearance of normalcy through his emotional connections with some of the hotel's diverse characters, which will allow him to uncover the juicy secrets hidden within its rooms. Thus, for more than three decades, the count will watch life pass by, confined behind the Metropol's immense windows, while outside one of the country's most turbulent periods unfolds.