Table for Two by Amor Towles

In the opening story, a husband and wife move from the country to Moscow during the Russian Revolution. Irina, the convinced communist, is a brilliant foil for her husband Pushkin, whose character evolves in an entirely different direction.

When Timothy and Mr. Pennybrooke came on the scene, I belatedly had to accept that this audiobook was not a novel. I soon became aware that however different these two seem from the above pair, Timothy at least shares with Irina the sadly human capacity for self-deception.

I’d hoped for a new novel from this author of A Gentleman from Moscow, a stunning character study that carries the reader through the Russian Revolution as seen through the eyes of one man who spends it under house arrest in the Metropole Hotel.

Yet the stories do not disappoint, portraying as they do an array of characters suffering from all sorts pf human frailties: greed, entitlement, deception, pride, fear. The tendency to judge others, and the guilt of finding themselves wrong. Also, in defiance of human foibles, we witness the love that trumps them all.