In A Gentleman in Moscow, a Bolshevik tribunal sentences Count Alexander Rostov to live in a hotel attic across from the Kremlin. Political and historical events also pervade the pages of these 20 similar books. Let’s dive right in!
It is 1922 when a Bolshevik tribunal sentences Count Alexander Rostov to an attic in a hotel across the street from the Kremlin.
His crime: writing a poem.
Alexander experiences and observes decades of key events in Russian history in the attic at the Hotel Metropol.
With a strong sense of setting and insightful, inspiring prose, A Gentleman in Moscow showcases modern Russian history and its cruelty while keeping the heart of friendship and human connection.
These similar 20 political and historical fiction books will transport you to a time and place full of moving characters and unique histories!
About Amor Towles
Amor Towles was born in Boston and received his MA in English from Stanford University. An award-winning American novelist of several notable books, including Rules of Civility, The Lincoln Highway, and A Gentleman in Moscow, Towles specializes in writing moving characters in difficult time periods to explore the emotional journeys they experience among the politics of the setting.
Towles lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children. His second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, has been picked up for a television series starring Ewan McGregor.
20 Best Political Fiction Books Like A Gentleman in Moscow
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
The final days of Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov are crafted and told through the lens of Leonka, the Romanovs’ kitchen boy, who vows he is a witness to the royal family’s violent murders.
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar takes place in St. Petersburg in 1917 and offers insight into Russia’s class through the Bolshevik Revolution. Fans of A Gentleman in Moscow will appreciate the heart this novel brings to the table and the well-developed main character.
The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin
This award-winning novel tells the tale of a Russian artist, Anatoly Sukhanov, who analyzes his past through dreams and navigates the consequences of trading artistry, morals, and a sense of self for wealth and politics.
A Gentleman in Moscow and The Dream Life of Sukhanov feature unforgettable main characters and lyrical prose. You can get this dark and moving political fiction novel here!
Lampedusa by Steven Price
Italian aristocracy in the 1950s is on display in this novel about Giuseppe Tomasi, a writer prince who struggles to leave a legacy of worth behind before he runs out of time in Sicily.
With gorgeous depictions of characters and heart-wrenching truth, Lampedusa will move readers. Whereas A Gentleman in Moscow is about a fictional Russian Count,Lampedusa is about an actual historical Italian prince and writer.
Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly
Against the backdrop of the Russian revolution and the first World War, three women navigate their ever-changing lives.
Sofya is a cousin of the Romanovs, Varinka is the daughter of a fortune teller whose family has ties to leaders of the Bolshevik uprisings, and Eliza Ferriday longs for social justice but holds no power to help.
Together, these three characters lead readers on an emotional journey through multiple countries in a historical setting where lives were lost and forever changed.
The young duchess Lucrezia de’ Medici marries the ruler of Ferrara and fights for her survival at every turn in the everchanging and tumultuous court.
Maggie O’Farrell brings Renaissance Italy to life in this political fiction novel about a girl who must deliver an heir in an unfamiliar court upon a foreign political stage.
A political fiction novel full of humanity and compassion, much like A Gentleman in Moscow, Grey Bees follows a Ukrainian beekeeper who is one of the last residents in Little Starhorodivka.
The village is in the “Grey Zone ” in Ukraine, the no man’s land between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists. As the war rages on, beekeeper Sergey Sergeyich encounters a cast of characters in his pursuit of protection and care for his bees in a land horrified by war.
You can get this bestselling novel by Ukraine’s most famous novelist, Andrey Kurkov, here!
The Woman of a Thousand Names by Alexandra Lapierre
Based on the true story of Russia’s Mata Hari, The Woman of a Thousand Names follows the beautiful and elusive aristocrat as she survives war and revolution.
You can get this complex and female-driven political novel here!
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
Two secretaries are spies in The Secrets We Kept, a political novel set in the 1950s during the Cold War.
While tasked with smuggling and publishing Doctor Zhivago, a banned love story by Pasternak out of the USSR, Sally and Irina work together to inspire Soviet Russia’s hearts with a moving love story to bring about change.
You can get this award-winning debut novel by Lara Prescott here!
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
All the Light We Cannot See follows two main characters, Marie-Laure, a blind French girl who must flee Nazi-occupied Paris in the 1940s, and Werner Pfennig, an orphaned German boy, as they cross paths and navigate survival in a world and country torn apart by war.
You can get this atmospheric and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel here!
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Banished and abandoned by her family for getting pregnant, American girl Charlie St. Clair travels to London in search of her cousin Rose, who went missing during the war in Nazi-occupied France.
Meanwhile, Eve Gardiner is a former spy who struggles with a betrayal that happened during the Great War. When Charlie St. Clair arrives on her doorstep, the past comes to light, and the two must work together to reveal the truth and Rose.
The events of Pachinko occur across several decades, during both the Japanese occupation of Korea and World War II, and are a backdrop for many of the problems the main characters face.
This historical and political novel follows Sunja, a young girl who gets pregnant with a married wealthy man before leaving for Japan with a kind and sickly minister. Over the years and throughout historical events, Sunja’s children grow and change.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah follows two sisters in 1939 France as the Nazis invade and occupy the country, changing their lives and relationships forever.
Vianne Mauriac must make difficult decisions to protect her family after her husband leaves for the Front and the Nazis occupy her home.
Isabelle, Vianne’s younger sister, falls in love only to be betrayed before joining the Resistance and throwing herself into dangerous situations to save the people around her.
In a powerful and courageous novel, The Nightingale delivers a heart like A Gentleman in Moscow.
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
The most remarkable racing horse in American history connects people across centuries in Horse by Geraldine Brooks.
The novel rotates through four points of view: Jarret, the 19th-century horse’s enslaved handler; Martha, a gallery owner in the 1950s; Jess, an osteologist studying the horse’s skeleton; and Theo, a historian and recent graduate who comes into possession of a discarded horse painting in 2019.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning author writes this complex and thought-provoking novel about race full of rich detail that A Gentleman in Moscow fans will enjoy.
A birthday party for Mr. Hosokawa, an influential and powerful businessman, is taken over by terrorists in the political fiction novel Bel Canto.
As the novel progresses, humanity shines through on both sides, and bridges are built between terrorists and hostages as understanding and relationships form between both groups.
Both Bel Canto and A Gentleman in Moscow feature humbled characters and the beauty of small things that lead to lasting human connection.
In pre-Civil War Georgia, Cora tries to escape slavery using the Underground Railroad. In this own voices novel by Colston Whitehead, the Underground Railroad is not a metaphor but an actual network of tracks, tunnels, engineers, and conductors that lead Cora from state to state, where she encounters harrowing experience after harrowing experience.
Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and a National Book Award, The Underground Railroad by Colston Whitehead looks at the horrors of history and racism that continue to bleed into the present.
It’s the 1920s and 1930s when Mikhail Bulgakov watches as his poet friend is abused, arrested, and outlawed. Simultaneously, the secret police are on Bulgakov’s trail as he falls in love with Margarita, an opinionated and strong woman.
Inspired and on the brink of arrest, Bulgakov writes a critical novel about criticism of power that captivates, challenges, and puts him at certain risk.
You can get this historical political fiction novel here!
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
With a strong and likable main character, The Four Winds is a historical novel about a woman living during the Great Depression. She navigates living in Texas after the Dust Bowl and the prospect of moving to California for a risky, unknown future.
Lyrical prose and rich details make The Four Winds a sweeping read for fans of A Gentleman in Moscow!
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
By the same author of A Gentleman in Moscow, The Lincoln Highway takes place in 1954. It follows young Emmett Watson, a recently released inmate who goes on a road trip with his brother Billy after two juvie escapees hideaway in the warden’s car, dragging Emmett into a plan involving his future and New York City.
Another character-driven novel by Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway is bittersweet with a full cast of characters. You can get this coming-of-age novel here!
Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
First published in 1959, Advise and Consent is considered a major impactful political fiction novel.
Allen Drury’s novel explores the motives, debates, and scandals between political figures in Washington, D.C.
You can get this award-winning classic political fiction novel here!
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Four stories and narratives intertwine in Salt to the Sea, a young adult novel about the ill-fated German ship Wilhelm Gustloff shot down by Soviet torpedoes in 1945.
Aboard the refugee ship are Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian Florian, and German soldier Alfred, whose lives all connect in many ways, for better or worse.
This haunting, character-focused novel lends itself to readers interested in forgotten war events. It will move fans of A Gentleman in Moscow.
These 20 political fiction books, like A Gentleman in Moscow, feature striking characters full of wit, sympathy, emotion, and heart that will take readers to a place of historical importance while keeping the feeling of humanity alive.
Travel through an array of global political events through this list and find your next favorite read!
FAQs
What is the point of A Gentleman in Moscow?
A Gentleman in Moscow navigates humanity in a time of political upheaval, highlights the importance of personal growth, comments on the role of government, warns against the poison of power, and touches on the inability to stop time and change.
Is A Gentleman in Moscow being made into a TV series?
A Gentleman in Moscow is being made into a TV series on Showtime.
Is A Gentleman in Moscow worth reading?
A Gentleman in Moscow was a finalist for the 2016 Kirkus Prize in Fiction & Literature, a New York Times bestseller, and received high reviews from several literary journals, including Kirkus Book Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist. A Gentleman in Moscow continues to be a staple in political fiction, considered one of the best in the genre.
Is A Gentleman in Moscow based on a true story?
A Gentleman in Moscow pulls from historical events, and the Metropol hotel is real. Still, the Count and most characters are fictional.
Is political fiction a genre?
Political fiction is a genre in literature that includes books featuring commentary on political events, systems, and theories. Political fiction frequently offers insight and criticism of society or fictionalizes a society to build up the theme and analysis. It is common for political fiction and historical fiction to go hand and hand.
Hi! I'm Taylor, and I've always loved getting lost in a good book. Book stores and libraries are my happy spaces, and reading is my favorite form of escape from the pressures of everyday life. When I'm not reading, I'm writing my own novels, working on blog posts, and freelancing while blasting Taylor Swift's music. I have a degree in English—Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where I studied under amazing writers, including New York Times best-selling author Wiley Cash. I've worked at my local library in the Children's and Teen departments and love sharing all things literary as a community! Happy reading! PS: Find me on Instagram @taylor_brazzill
