A Gentleman in Moscow is based in Russia in the years after the Russian Revolution from the 1920’s through to the 1950’s. It is about Alexander Rostov, who has been imprisoned for the rest of his life to The Metropol, an upmarket hotel.

Alexander’s relationships with the people he meets are a joy to witness, from romantic relationships to the closest bonds of friendships through to his most treasured role as a parental figure. The book touches on themes about how a small decision or chance meeting can change the direction of one’s life.

I adored this book. The use of language is exquisite, and the ideas that Amor Towles brings to the table are so wonderfully simplistic that I wonder why I had not thought them before, or perhaps I had thought them but did not know how to articulate them. While the storyline is compelling and interesting it is the use of language that draws you in and makes you want to turn over the page.

My favourite passage in this book is this:

“He believed in the influence of early frosts and lingering summers, of ominous clouds and delicate rains, of fog and sunshine and snowfall. And he believed, most especially, in the reshaping of destinies by the slightest change in the thermometer”

These words have been rolling around in my thoughts ever since I finished the book and it just makes me smile with how much I agree with it. Simplistic perfection.

If A Gentleman In Moscow was to be made into a movie I would cast Richard Gere to play Alexander.