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Voyage to the End of the Room
Voyage to the End of the Room
Dec 31, 2025 5:55 PM

Author:Tibor Fischer

Voyage to the End of the Room

Oceane, successful computer graphics designer and former dancer, likes to travel, but doesn't like to go out; in fact she never leaves home. Her solution is to bring the world to her South London flat using satellite, the internet and passing foreigners. Her lifestyle suits her until she starts getting letters from an ex - an ex who died ten years ago.

Utilising the services of Audley, failed mercenary and debt collector, Oceane has to start searching the world. Weaving from the sex clubs of Barcelona to the battlefields of Yugoslavia, this is a meditation on a random world, why ketchup is important and why the Audit Commission rated Lambeth Council as one of the worst in the country.

Reviews

Side-splittingly funny...Conrad with jokes

—— Sunday Times

A delicate serio-comic treasure

—— Salman Rushdie

Barking mad, but brilliant

—— FHM

Fischer writes sparking, taut, highly energetic prose. Fischer's wit and ironic verve keep you turning the page

—— Scotsman

A dazzling collage of dark comedy laced with metaphysics from an author whose mind fires like popcorn in the microwave-a book that achieves the rare feat of being both thought-provoking and fun

—— Arena

This novel is astonishing, uplifting and wise. Don’t miss it.

—— Chris Cleave

I just reread A Gentleman in Moscow ... It's a wonderful book at any time, and this time it brought home to me how people find ways to be happy, make connections, and make a difference to one another's lives, even in the strangest, saddest and most restrictive circumstances.

—— Tana French , Good Housekeeping

I think the world feels so disordered right now. The count’s refinement and genteel nature are exactly what we’re longing for. His world was also in shambles but he maintained his grace and humor.

—— Ann Patchett

There is so, so much to love in this book as we keep company with the endlessly entertaining Count . . .[This] novel is wistful, whimsical and wry and elegantly captures that most apposite of lessons: 'By the smallest of one's actions, one can restore some sense of order to the world'. Brilliant

—— Eithne Farry , Sunday Express

A Gentleman in Moscow is a tale abundant in humour, history and humanity, with a poignant message about time passing. That Towles also makes this rollicking good fun is no mean feat.

—— Constance Watson , Sunday Telegraph

WINNING . . . GORGEOUS . . . SATISFYING . . . TOWLES IS A CRAFTSMAN

—— New York Times Book Review

Towles’ use of language is an absolute pleasure to read and you can’t help but savour every last word . . . What makes it a great work of historical fiction is the apt creations the author builds outside the hotel walls in a truly tumultuous time. Towles creates such a memorable character in Rostov and this book brings something for everyone - humour, history, friendship and philosophy

—— Irish Times

A Gentleman in Moscow is exquisitely propped and styled, from the silver samovars to the red covers of Baedeker guides . . . [T]he count charms and disarms, and his story sparks much joy and a new anti-Kondo philosophy: chuck much, but keep all the books.

—— The Times

A sheer delight … a gorgeous comic epic.

—— Daily Express

I adored A Gentleman in Moscow . . . This is a lovely, meandering story as charming and elegant as the Count himself.

—— Red

What makes it a great work of historical fiction are the creations the author builds outside the hotel in a truly tumultuous time.

—— i Newspaper

If we do a better book than this on the [Simon Mayo Radio 2] Book Club, we'll have a very very good year!

—— Matt Williams, Radio 2 Book Club

A Gentleman in Moscow is quite a novel. Towles’ use of language is a pleasure and you can’t help but savour every word . . . a great work of fiction.

—— The Herald

A love story like no other, in a beautiful-looking book.

—— Sun

The perfect escapist read, Amor Towles’ A Gentleman In Moscow is utterly mesmerising.

—— Stylist

An inventive and charming novel

—— You magazine

The same gorgeous, layered richness that marked Towles' debut shapes this novel

—— Entertainment Weekly

A masterful writer . . . a talent for conjuring up scenes from the past and present and bringing them into remarkable focus

—— Washington Times

This novel is as much a celebration of that great culture as it is a biography of an irrepressible and indomitable spirit . . . an absolute must read.

—— Irish Independent

Spread across four decades, this is in all ways a great novel, a nonstop pleasure brimming with charm, personal wisdom and philosophical insight.

—— Kirkus

This is parable for all world travellers.

—— GQ

A charming novel.

—— Sunday Times Culture Magazine

Lovely, long and lingering story.

—— Red

Written with a clipped, capering style and comic flair that can't fail to charm.

—— Compass magazine

A profound, often funny survey of mid-20th-Century Russia

—— Daily Telegraph

Unputdownable

—— Irish Independent

Among the greatest comic novels of all time . . . told with such style and wit that every page reduced me to helpless laughter and admiration

—— The Daily Express, BOOK OF THE YEAR

The book I would recommend to anyone who appreciates what only fiction can do … It’s a page-turner and a delight.

—— David Hepworth , Radio Times

I love the novels of Amor Towles, especially A Gentleman in Moscow - he has this ability to nail the idiosyncrasies and quirks of a character in just a few words.

—— Antonio Pappano , Daily Telegraph

A heart-warming story that asks the reader to consider what is important in life. We loved it. *****

—— Woman’s Weekly

I can highly recommend A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles as lockdown reading ... The story resonates because we have all endured restricted lifestyles of late and may continue to for months to come.

—— Philip Rodney , The Times (Scotland)

It is a good book to read during this pandemic because it's about how he is being confined to Moscow's Hotel Metropol.

—— Dougray Scott , Metro

Towles's book is a delight, with a beguiling central character and lively descriptions of life in Russia over a period of 30 years.

—— Independent

A wonderful bookwhich gives the reader an understanding of life in post revolution Moscow.

—— Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

Totally original novel ... A great deal of Russian history is also subtly woven into this magical book, which is tear-jerking but never sentimental, with a quite unexpected and thrilling ending.

—— Daily Mail

Wonderful, combining brilliant storytelling with beautiful writing.

—— Jeffrey Archer, Daily Express

I love the novels of Amor Towles, especially A Gentleman in Moscow - he has this ability to nail the idiosyncrasies and quirks of a character in just a few words.

—— Antonio Pappano, Daily Telegraph

It's hard not to fall in love with Count Rostov, an impeccably mannered and mischievous aesthete placed under permanent house arrest at Moscow's Metropol hotel ... An endearing and frequently hilarious novel that covers big topics with a velvet touch.

—— Independent
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