Because their uncle decides that the Golitevs would wait out the revolution in the hope that things would return to normal, Irina and Lilya Goliteva are eking out a precarious existence in Moscow. Anyone who knows a bit about Russian history will know that there are several long decades of Soviet rule stretching out ahead of 1921. Irina and Lilya have no way of knowing this, of course, but they know that their only chance of a long life is to somehow get themselves out of Russia. It’s hard enough to get one person past the murderous Red Army and nascent Soviet government, let alone the remnant of their family (two children, an aunt, and a grandmother), let alone the remnant of an aristocratic family. Olesya Salnikova Gilmore’s atmospheric and gripping new novel, The Haunting of Moscow House, follows Irina and Lilya as they face battles that might finally end their illustrious family.
All that remains of the Golitev’s vast fortune is Moscow House. The estates are gone. Their palace in Petrograd (previously St. Petersburg, soon-to-be Leningrad) had to be abandoned as the revolution broke out. Worse, most of the family are dead. The Golitevs are now considered former people, which means that no one can employ them and anyone helping them will draw the gimlet eye of the NKVD. If it weren’t for Grandmère Goliteva’s friendship with the powerful politician Lev Kamenev, the rest of the Golitevs would’ve lost Moscow House and probably their lives during the worst of the revolution and subsequent civil war. Irina and Lilya are only able to keep the family fed by selling and bartering their remaining possessions at a street market where other former people are likewise liquidating their own dwindling riches.
Who knows how long the family would’ve carried on like this if two things hadn’t happened? First, the sisters meet two representatives of the American Relief Administration, a humanitarian project to feed the starving in Russia. Second, Moscow House has at last been requisitioned by the Soviet Government. The first event offers a rare ray of hope for the Golitevs. The Americans are perhaps the only people who can hire former people with impunity. Hard currency and food from the ARA means that the Golitevs are no longer flirting with hunger. The second event, however, is much more dire. Previously, the Golitevs kept a low profile. With a squad of soldiers and agents in Moscow House, it’s impossible to hide from the Soviets. But that’s when a third thing happens that turns everything on its head. Irina and Lilya discover that Moscow House is haunted. Not only is the house haunted, Moscow House does not like having Soviets in it.
Even though there is a fair amount of death and a lot of threats of death in The Haunting of Moscow House, I was completely hooked by this novel. Gilmore has a light hand with her research about the fates of aristocrats in Russia during and after the revolution, the American Relief Administration, and Russian folklore but this book is so rich with details that I was transported headlong into its pages. Gilmore also has a gift with plotting and pacing. Hints about what’s going on are doled out at just the right moments to deepen mysteries, reveal secrets, and twist the plot in a new direction. This book was an incredible read and I plan to badger a whole bunch of people into reading it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
While I was searching for an image I could use to supplement my review, I came across this astonishing video from 1908 called “Moscow Clad in Snow,” by George Meyer and the Moscow studio of the Brothers Pathé: