Book Clubs

First of all, if you have come to this Reader’s Guide because you have read A Gentleman in Moscow, I owe you my heartfelt thanks. I hope you enjoyed the book. For those interested in learning more about the background of the book or my process, I encourage you to browse this site where I have placed a variety of supporting materials. In particular, you may be interested in my Q&A (which answers some frequently asked questions) or my brief history of the Metropol Hotel.

The following playlist includes five classical pieces referenced in A Gentleman in Moscow listed below in the order in which they appear in the novel.

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Town & Country preview my new book. “A Gentleman in Moscow, Towles’ second novel, to be published this September, again by Viking. The book tells the story of Count Alexander Rostov, an “unrepentant aristocrat,” according to the Bolshevik tribunal that sentences him to house arrest in The Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the…

Set in New York City in 1938, Rules of Civility tells the story of a watershed year in the life of an uncompromising twenty-five-year-old named Katey Kontent. Armed with little more than a formidable intellect, a bracing wit, and her own brand of cool nerve, Katey embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York society in search of a brighter future.

His novels Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway have collectively sold more than six million copies and been translated into more than thirty languages. Both Bill Gates and President Barack Obama included A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway on their annual book recommendation lists.

First commercial transatlantic flight (by Pan Am) Blue Note records established as Charlie Parker settles in NY “The Wizard of Oz” starring Judy Garland Einstein-Szilard letter alerting Roosevelt that Germans are working on an atom bomb

Benny Goodman’s Carnegie Hall concert Superman introduced in Action Comics #1 (followed by Batman a year later) British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain confirms “Peace for our time” Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre

Joe Louis becomes heavy weight champion The zipper gains ascendancy over the button in men’s pants as Lana Turner popularizes “the sweater girl” look Minetta Tavern opens on MacDougal Street

First washateria in the US Polarized sunglasses and sunblock first marketed “Modern Times” with Charlie Chaplin Spanish Civil War begins