James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Amor Towles about his bestselling novel A Gentleman in Moscow. The 30 year story of Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov takes in the sweep of Russian history from the period just after the Russian Revolution, through the Stalinist purges, and heading towards Kruschev’s thaw – all experienced thorough the lens of Rostov’s long house arrest in The Metropol Hotel.

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Presenter: James Naughtie
Producer: Allegra McIlroy

May’s Bookclub choice: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty