Hotel Moscow

Hotel Moscow, by Talia Carner is the story of life in Russia during the break up of communism.  Brooke Fielding is a thirty eight year old investment manager working for a company in New York City.  While her company is in the middle of a take over she is given a two week vacation.  She joins a group of women going to Russia to teach business skills to Russian women starting up small businesses. 

Brooke is the child of holocaust survivors.  She has been affected by the legacy of her parents, who survived the war when so many others did not.  Brooke grew up hearing the stories and fears of her parents. Her parents are Russian Jews who were persecuted during the war and sent to concentration camps.  As she travels through Russia, Brooke feels the fear and trepidation her parents felt back during the prewar years.  As the story progresses Brooke grapples with her feelings about being Jewish.  As her character grows she becomes more understanding of her parents and more comfortable with her Judaism.

Brooke is traveling with a group of women entrepreneurs who will be teaching businesswomen in the newly free Russia skills that will help them succeed in the emerging market. 

Traveling in a communist country things are not always what they seem.  The story develops with many layers and different perspectives of life in Russia during the 1990s.

The reader follow the thoughts and feelings of Brooke as she interacts with the women she is trying to help and educate about independence and business skills.  She also runs into a criminal scheme being practiced by a group of upper level government employees.  Brooke begins to understand her mother better and feels more connected to her Judaism than she ever has before. 

This novel is based on personal impressions this author had while traveling in Russia during the political uprising of the Russian parliament against President Boris Yeltsin.  Carner has used her own story to write this novel.  In an essay written in December 2011, Carner writes, "There were so many women desperate to provide for their children in a country where the majority of households were run by women because the men often drank, beat their wives, and died of alcoholism at the average age of fifty-seven." 

Motivated by the Russian women's courage Carner makes a second trip to Russia in October 1993 landing in Moscow two hours after the uprising begins against President Boris Yeltsin.  Using the art of the novel, creating wonderful female characters and the intrigue of illegal business dealings, Carner gives the reader a realistic feeling for what it was really like to  be in Russia at this time in history.

Also quite fun are the patterns of speech used by the Russian women.  Here are some examples of the sayings used by the characters:  When the character of Olga is explaining to her husband that she wants to help build a better country for her granddaughter, she is outraged that Yeltsin puts out a directive to give all available jobs to men.  She says, "it is easier for a donkey when a woman gets off the cart."  Another beautiful saying, "Even nightingales can't live on fairy tales."  Then later in the story as the women are figuring the criminal scheme that the mafia is putting together Olga tells Brooke, "Even a blind horse can pull a cart, if he 's being lead to water."  One last wonderful quote, as Olga tries convince a friend to help make Russia a better place for women to live and work says, "Make yourself into a sheep, and you'll meet a wolf nearby."

Talia Carner won the Forward National Literature Award in the historical fiction category in 2011 for her novel, Jerusalem Maiden.  She also wrote Puppet Child and China Doll.  She has worked for both Redbook and Savvy Woman magazines.  In 1993, Carner was sent twice by the United States Information Agency to Russia, and in 1995 participated in the NGO women's conference in Beijing, China.  She is a board member of HBI, the Hadassah, Brandeis Institute, the Jewish women's research center at Brandeis University.