A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

We have all heard the expression "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade" but Amor Towles takes this idea to the maximum in his novel A Gentleman in Moscow.  The story centers around Count Alexander Rostov a privileged, aristocrat in 1922 Moscow during the Bolshevik revolution.  Unable to establish a crime worthy of the death sentence (as was the case with many of the aristocrats of this era), the tribunal court sentenced the count to house arrest for life in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin.  The count who had never worked a day in his life and who had never really thought of anyone or anything except his pleasures, was suddenly faced with endless days of nothing.  The novel cleverly, humorously reveals the life that the count creates during the 30 years that he lives in the Metropol.  He found a real life with real people who worked in the hotel and who became his "family."  This family circle includes the irrepressible young Nina who shows the count that the whole world is inside the hotel if you just know where to look.  This young girl and later her daughter help the count gain a deeper connection to life and to what it means to love and protect and to have a real purpose in life.  If you read and enjoyed The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, you will love this gentleman.  He is charming and so is this book.