The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru

A fearless fortune teller in 1920s Paris must use her powers to divine who she can trust when an exiled Romanov princess and her brother come to her seeking answers about a decades-old mystery…

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About the Book

Spirited Zina and her secretive grandmother, Baba Valya, own a tearoom on rue Daru in Paris, where they have lived quietly since Zina’s mother’s untimely death. By day, the women serve tea, mostly to members of the bustling Russian émigré community, but when dusk falls, they divine fortunes and perform séances for their loyal clientele.

Then the charming Princess Olga and her brother arrive, searching for knowledge about the disappearance of their father, the exiled Grand Duke, cousin of the last Tsar of Russia. Zina, eager to learn more about the spirit world and her powers, performs the séance. She is able to summon the Grand Duke, but to her horror, he starts to haunt the shop, and he seems to know something sinister about her mother’s death.

As Zina delves into her family’s hidden past, dark secrets are unearthed, threatening the home and tearoom Zina and her grandmother have worked so hard to build, not to mention their very lives.

Praise

“The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru is a spine-tingling gothic tale of family, a legacy of secrets, and the dangerous cost of unearthing the past through a forbidden séance. Gilmore conjures 1920s Paris and the Russian émigré community, delivering a haunting and compelling story that is sure to grip readers.”
—Madeline Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book Society

“Zinaida “Zina” Lenormand knows she can do so much more to help her grandmother, Baba Valya, besides telling fortunes and reading auras. Specifically, Zina wants to conduct séances. Unfortunately, Valya has forbidden Zina from doing so because she knows how easy it can be to fall under the influence of nechistaya sila (dark forces) while communicating with the dead. Then Olga Romanov and her brother Alexander turn up at Samovar, Valya’s teashop on Rue Daru, and ask Zina if she will conduct a séance for them. When Zina complies and attempts to reach out to Olga’s father, the grand duke, she not only unwittingly invites his vengeful ghost into the teashop but also discovers his dangerous connection to her own mother’s death. An ingenious literary magician, Gilmore effectively and elegantly conjures up Paris in the 1920s and its Russian émigré community, adding to her addictively readable gothic tale a dash of romance and a generous splash of spooky supernaturalism. Fans of Yangsze Choo’s The Fox Wife (2024) and Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist (2014) will be equally enamored with this bewitching tale.”
—Booklist (STARRED review)

“Readers follow Zina in the present and Valya in both the present and through flashbacks as this supernatural horror story winds its way through the vibrant streets of 1920s Paris and into the deadly politics of late 19th-century Russia, with headstrong Zina owning her powers and wielding them at any cost in search of the truth. VERDICT Gilmore’s (The Haunting of Moscow House) latest historical horror will be another crowd-pleaser. For fans of menacing supernatural tales of family secrets, ghosts, possession, and intrigue, such as Alma Katsu’s The Deep or Daphne Fama’s House of Monstrous Women.”
—Library Journal

“Olesya Salnikova Gilmore has crafted a hauntingly evocative tale of murder, mysticism, and revenge. At once grounded and utterly magical, The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru is a deftly woven tapestry, depicting a saga of family secrets and generational curses, set against the rich background of 1920 Paris. Salnikova Gilmore expertly balances historical detail, romance, and magic, weaving a tale that will make you truly believe in a world of spirits waiting just beyond the veil.”
—Morgan Ryan, author of A Resistance of Witches

“…vibrant and detailed…thanks to Salnikova Gilmore’s exquisite attention to detail and meticulous research.”

“an atmospheric and eerie story, filled with fascinating details about the myriad forms of fortune-telling and occult practices.”

“The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru is a beautifully rendered portrayal of the bond between a granddaughter and grandmother as they navigate life’s challenges. It is also a celebration of the strength and resolve of immigrant women.”

—New City Lit

“Gilmore combines the ghosts of past love, strong women, dangerous family secrets, Russian folklore, and a close knit found family with the atmospheric, horrific creep of the spirit world to create a haunting, captivating gothic novel that will keep readers tight in its grip until the very last page.”
—Megan Chance, bestselling author of Glamorous Notions

“A clear case is made in the Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru for the role of women in protecting and preserving the fabric and continuation of a culture across generations. Historians ignore this important contribution at their own risk . . . As intriguing as the paranormal and criminal aspects of this excellent novel are, there is also much material for the historic interests of this tumultuous era . . . Ah, Paris, the City of Light (Ville lumière). Ah, Rue Daru, the tearoom of darkness and hauntings. The contrast is well-conceived and the characters are believable. The time and setting provide a springboard for further discovery of an important chapter in the history of Russia and France.”
—Historical Novel Society

“Salnikova Gilmore’s writing soars with this inventive, chilling feast of fortune-telling, seances, and deadly secrets, while dazzling readers with the unforgettable scenery and achingly beautiful prose. This thrilling story of murder, generational power of love and treachery will be devoured in one sitting.”
—Marina Scott, author of The Night Guests

“The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru is an eerie and compelling tale filled with all the elements you would expect from a top-notch work of gothic horror.”
—Bookreporter

“As far as mysteries go, The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru is a masterful one that avoids many of the genre’s tropes. And its strong feminist bent, which speaks loudly to its contemporary audience, elevates it beyond the realm of a stereotypical supernatural thriller. Both Zina and Valya are heroines, and readers will root for them as they use their resilience, strength, and determination to survive dark forces that most people cannot — or refuse to — see.”
—Washington Independent Review of Books

Discussion Guide

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Discussion Questions

1. How does Zina grow in her power as a fortune teller and a woman throughout the story? Do you agree with the choices she makes to get there?
2. How does the relationship between Zina and her grandmother evolve? Which of them is your favorite?
3. How does the author use the setting of the tearoom and the greater Paris area to create atmosphere? How does the setting heighten the gothic and historical elements?
4. How does the past, specifically, the Lenormands’ generational trauma and choices, influence the story and Valya’s and Zina’s paths?
5. How is fortune-telling and spiritualism the same and different in the novel from what you’ve heard? What is the author’s twist on them? Is their existence, and the general belief in the supernatural, accepted by the characters?
6. How do Valya’s and Zina’s struggles as émigrés in 1920s Paris reflect the difficulties faced by the émigré community at large, both in the book and in history?
7. Did you feel empathy for Olga, Alec, and their father, the Grand Duke? Why or why not?
8. Are Zina and Gabriel enemies-to-lovers? What growing do they have to do to get past their conflicting motivations?
9. What was your favorite scene in the novel?
10. Is the end a happily ever after?

Content Warnings

  • Strong language and violence
  • Murder and dead bodies (some witnessed by the reader)
  • Death, including death of a child sibling (mentioned), husband (experienced), parent (experienced), grandparent (experienced),
    and other family members, as well funeral (mentioned)
  • Accident, illness & attack
  • Mention of homophobia
  • Hunger & poverty
  • Threat of arrest and imprisonment and actual imprisonment
  • Poison and resulting illness/death
  • Immigration/immigrant/émigré/exile experience
  • Police investigations
  • Blood sacrifice and ritual
  • PTSD following revolution and war (mentioned)
  • Sexual coercion (witnessed by the reader in flashback)
  • A possessive romantic relationship and resulting psychological abuse (not main character)
  • Harassment/sexual advances (mentioned, not main character)
  • Sexism
  • Pregnancy (not graphic)
  • Sex (not graphic)
  • Adoption by grandparent
  • Drinking/intoxication/mention of alcohol abuse
  • Destruction of property
  • Disturbing visions

List of Main Sources Used

THE FORTUNE TELLERS OF RUE DARU

List of Sources

McAuliffe, Mary, Dawn of the Belle Epoque: The Paris of Monet, Zola, Bernhardt, Eiffel, Debussy, Clemenceau, and Their Friends, Rowman & Littlefield (2011)

McAuliffe, Mary, When Paris Sizzled: The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends, Rowman & Littlefield (2016)

Berberova, Nina (translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz), Billancourt Tales, New Directions Publishing (2001)

Berberova, Nina (translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz), The Book of Happiness, New Directions Publishing (1999)

Berberova, Nina (translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz), The Ladies from St. Petersburg, New Directions Publishing (1998)

Churton, Tobias, Occult Paris: The Lost Magic of the Belle Époque, Inner Traditions (2016)

Goodchild, Claire, The Book of Séances: A Guide to Divination and Speaking to Spirits, Hachette Book Group (2022)

Hansen, Arlen J., Expatriate Paris: A Cultural and Literary Guide to Paris of the 1920s, Arcade Publishing (1990)

Helvin, Natasha, Slavic Witchcraft: Old World Conjuring Spells & Folklore, Destiny Books (2019)

Hemingway, Ernest, A Moveable Feast, Scribner Classics (1964)

Lester, Herb, Occult Paris: City of Night, Herb Lester Associates (2022)

Morton, Lisa, Calling the Spirits: A History of Séances, Reaktion Books (2020)

Rappaport Helen, After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War, St. Martin’s Press (2022)

Ryan, W. F., The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia, The Pennsylvania State University Press (1999)

Sophia, Fortune in a Coffee Cup: Divination with Coffee Grounds, Llewellyn Publications (1999)

Stevens, Serita & Bannon, Anne, HowDunit: Book of Poisons: A Guide for Writers, Writer’s Digest Books (2007)

Teffi (translated from the Russian by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler and others), Memories from Moscow to the Black Sea, New York Review Books Classics (2016)

Teffi (translated from the Russian by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler and others), Tolstoy, Rasputin, Others, and Me: The Best of Teffi, New York Review Books Classics (2016)

Touchkoff, Svetlana Alexandrovna, Russian Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards: An Innovative System for Discovering Your Path in Life Based on the Authentic Gypsy Teachings of Nineteenth-Century Russia, HarperOne (1992)

Wigzell, Faith, Reading Russian Fortunes: Print Culture, Gender, and Divination in Russia from 1765, Cambridge University Press (1998)