After two decades working in the investment business, whilst on a work trip, Towles returned to the same hotel he had been the year prior and had a feeling of déjà-vu. This painted the premise for his novel, following the life of an aristocrat for 30 years, stuck in a grand hotel. Although it is fiction, the Metropol hotel is very real. This story is set in the newly formed Soviet Union in 1922, as the main character is placed on house arrest. Although the whole premise takes place in a confined environment, it takes him on a journey where he discovers himself and the deeper meaning of life as a whole.
