The Haunting of Moscow House

In this elegant gothic horror tale set in post-revolutionary Russia, two formerly aristocratic sisters race to uncover their family’s long-buried secrets in a house haunted by a past dangerous—and deadly—to remember.

On Sale: September 3, 2024

About the Book

It is the summer of 1921, and a group of Bolsheviks have taken over Irina and Lili Goliteva’s ancestral home in Moscow, a stately mansion falling into disrepair and decay. The remaining members of their family are ordered to move into the cramped attic, while the officials take over an entire wing of grand rooms downstairs. The sisters understand it is the way of things and know they must forget their noble upbringing to make their way in this new Soviet Russia. But the house begins to whisper of a traumatic past not as dead as they thought.

Eager to escape it and their unwelcome new landlords, Irina and Lili find jobs with the recently arrived American Relief Administration, meant to ease the post-revolutionary famine in Russia. For the sisters, the ARA provides much-needed food and employment, as well as a chance for sensible Irina to help those less fortunate and artistic Lili to express herself for a good cause. It might just lead them to love, too.

But at home, the spirits of their deceased family awaken, desperate to impart what really happened to them during the Revolution. Soon one of the officials living in the house is found dead. Was his death caused by something supernatural, or by someone all too human? And are Irina and Lili and their family next? Only unearthing the frightening secrets of Moscow House will reveal all. But this means the sisters must dig deep into a past no one in Russia except the dead are allowed to remember.

Praise

“Olesya Salnikova Gilmore’s sophomore novel is a Faberge egg confection: post-Imperial Russian history filigreed over classic gothic suspense. Aristocratic sisters Irina and Lili Goliteva struggle to find their footing in the new Communist regime, demoted to live in the attic of their elegant mansion as swaggering Soviet officials take over the wing below. But when ghostly apparitions begin to pile up the bodies at Moscow House, only the despised former countesses can unravel the secrets of past and present to halt the bloodshed. The Haunting of Moscow House will delight history lovers and gothic mystery lovers alike!”
—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye

“An atmospheric and gripping novel, The Haunting of Moscow House transports readers to the chilling streets of post-revolutionary Russia and a grand, mysterious mansion brimming with deadly secrets and the ghosts of the past. A must-read for lovers of gothic suspense!” 
—Chanel Cleeton, New York Times bestselling author of The House on Biscayne Bay

“With graceful, captivating prose, Gilmore weaves a haunting tale of post-revolutionary Russia, about confronting the ghosts of a painful past to find hope for the future. Eerie and atmospheric, romantic and heartrending, The Haunting of Moscow House is a gorgeous historical gothic.”
—Rachel Harrison, national bestselling author of Black Sheep

“Elegantly haunting, Olesya Salnikova Gilmore weaves a tale of secrets, the heartrending fall of an empire, and a family torn asunder into an elegiac portrait of sisters confronting the past that can never be buried, steeped in Gothic dread. Curl up with hot tea and keep the candle lit, as you enter the world of a captivating storyteller whose writing is deft as rain and shadows on her titular mansion.”
—C.W. Gortner, author of The Romanov Empress

“The Haunting of Moscow House is a decadent treat of a novel. The historical setting is vivid, the characters feel achingly believable, and the atmosphere is delicious. A perfect story for anyone who loves Gothic suspense.”
—Darcy Coates, USA Today bestselling author 
“Past and present collide in The Haunting of Moscow House, a harrowing look into the afterlives of Russia’s so-called Former People, left in the shadow of the Revolution. Unsettling and compelling in equal measure, Moscow House had me reading late into the night!”
—Bryn Turnbull, internationally bestselling author of The Paris Deception

“Chilling and exquisite…a captivating tale of love, strength, and sisterhood that will make you forget that the rest of the world exists while you are reading it.”
—Kristen Loesch, author of The Last Russian Doll

“Formerly aristocratic sisters in an empire crumbling like their decaying mansion, family secrets haunting the living, gothic dread wrapping its tendrils around it all — I’m hooked. This atmospheric tale set during the fall of tsarist Russia would have even Anastasia reading into the night, with all the candles burning.”
—Wendy Webb, bestselling author of Daughters of the Lake

“The Haunting of Moscow House masterfully weaves gothic dread, Russian folklore, and history into a suspenseful tale of sisterhood and survival set in a post-revolutionary Moscow that resembles a countess in a tattered gown: regal and proud, despite her scars. Rife with dark family secrets and steeped in eerie atmosphere, you’ll want to read this one with the lights on.”
—Paulette Kennedy, author of Parting the Veil

Excerpt

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Discussion Guide

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Content Warnings

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