BOOK ONE

1922 / An Ambassador & An Anglican Ashore

Summary: 1922 / An Ambassador

Escorted by two guards, the Count walks back to the Metropol and up to his third-floor suite, number 317. The hotel staff are shocked but happy to see him return alive from the hearing. An army captain informs him, however, that he is being relocated. He must quickly choose which possessions to take to his new quarters, a small room on the sixth floor, where servants of Metropol guests used to stay, in the days when people still traveled with servants. One of the items the Count selects is a heavy desk. He also keeps a small pair of scissors, in the shape of an egret, and a portrait of his sister Helena.

During the move, the Count thinks of his grandmother. When the Tsar was executed, he rushed back from Paris to ensure that she left the country for her own safety. He also thinks of his godfather, Grand Duke Demidov, who looked after the young Count and his sister when their parents died. The desk came from the Grand Duke.

In his new room, the count entertains visitors: Andrey, the maître d’ of the hotel restaurant; Vasily, the concierge; and Marina, the seamstress. He serves drinks in glasses from a leather case nicknamed the Ambassador. After his guests leave, he opens a compartment in one of the desk’s legs, revealing a stack of gold pieces.

Summary: An Anglican Ashore

The next morning, the Count imagines strolling outdoors and chatting with young ladies, including one who serves him French-style mille-feuille pastry. Returning to reality, he asks the boy who brings breakfast to deliver a note. As the boy leaves, the Metropol’s one-eyed lobby cat slips into the room. After moving some of his belongings, including most of his many books, to another, unused room, the Count settles down to read. He thinks of his sister, Helena, who would be twenty-five now. A man arrives, having received the Count’s note: Konstantin Konstantinovich, a lender and exchanger of money. The Count shows him a gold piece and assures him there are others like it. The two quickly strike a deal and agree to meet again in three months.

The Count dines at the Metropol’s restaurant, the Boyarsky, where chef Emile Zhukovsky is working miracles during hard economic times, for instance using nettle in place of sage. After dinner, the Count resolves that, like Robinson Crusoe stranded on the Island of Despair, he will make himself comfortable. By means of three notes Konstantin delivered for him, he has already acquired fine linens, a supply of his favorite soap, and a serving of mille-feuille as dessert.

Analysis: 1922 / An Ambassador & An Anglican Ashore

The soldiers shepherding the Count to his room are indecisive when asked if they should take the elevator or stairs, demonstrating that although they have weapons and are in positions of power, their new government is young and unsure. The Bolsheviks used extreme measures to gain and maintain their control, eliminating their opposition by any means necessary, so when the Count is escorted through Resurrection Gate, onlookers are stunned to see that the Bolsheviks have not executed him. The soldiers ash their cigarettes on the parquet floor, symbolizing their distaste and lack of appreciation for the old and ornate, more specifically the overthrown nobility, including the Count. However, just because the Bolsheviks have not executed the Count, it does not mean he will go unpunished.

Although it is possible that the Bolsheviks might still assert their political power and erase the Count like the rest of the nobility, the Count remains hopeful. At first, the Count believes he will spend the rest of his days in room 317, his spacious, lavish quarters. However, the Count is moved from his suite and reduced to the sixth-floor servants’ quarters, where his world grows drastically smaller. The windows in room 317 were eight feet tall, but on the sixth floor, they are described in ever-smaller terms: first as the size of a chess board, then as a dinner invitation, and finally as a postage stamp. But there is proof that the Count’s freedom is not entirely lost: a pigeon lands on the ledge of his tiny window, a reminder that the outside world still exists.

In order to survive, the characters are forced to adjust with the times and change as their country changes, demonstrating a central theme of the novel: adapting to new norms. At first, the Count has trouble acclimating to his confinement as he dreams of his former life and wanders the hotel without purpose, but he shows determination and optimism when he decides that he must master his circumstance or else his circumstance will master him. He compares himself to Robinson Crusoe and decides to meet his fate with practicality, but he also plans to keep an eye out for “sails on the horizon and footprints in the sand,” metaphorical representations of freedom and purpose. Elsewhere in the hotel, others are adapting to their circumstances as well. Chef Emile is forced to adapt after Russia renders fine dining nearly extinct by closing its borders and prohibiting rubles. Because of Emile’s ingenuity and resourcefulness, he is able to create food that impresses the average diner. When the Count inquires about the subtle changes, Emile is upset that he has not been able to disguise the substitutions. Emile’s high standards drive him to consistently adapt to become a “master of his circumstances,” just like the Count.