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.
Author
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore is the critically acclaimed author of The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru, The Haunting of Moscow House, and The Witch and the Tsar. Originally from Russia, she was raised in the US and graduated from Pepperdine University with a BA in English/political science, and from Northwestern School of Law with a JD. She practiced litigation at one of the largest top law firms in Chicago for several years before pursuing her dream of becoming an author. She writes fiction in a variety of genres, including fantasy, gothic suspense, mystery, and historical. She also loves exploring American and European history and folklore. Her work has appeared in Literary Hub, Tor.com, CrimeReads, Writer’s Digest, and Washington Independent Review of Books, among others. When she is not working on her latest novel, she is a freelance editor, writing coach, and publishing consultant. She lives in a wooded, lakeside suburb of Chicago with her husband and two daughters.
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