Olesya Salnikova Gilmore follows up her debut novel, THE WITCH AND THE TSAR, with THE HAUNTING OF MOSCOW HOUSE. This spellbinding and haunting work of gothic horror is set in post-revolutionary Russia, where the formerly aristocratic live in fear of the Bolsheviks and the Cheka secret police, and the dead live on every corner.

Russia is synonymous with tragedy. First came the Great War, then the Russian Revolution only three years later, and now, in 1921, famine and drought have come for Russia’s people. The scarcity of food might be more noticeable if anyone could afford it in the first place, but like many of Russia’s former people, 28-year-old Irina Goliteva and her 18-year-old sister, Lili, have grown accustomed to scrounging and begging. Countesses by birth and upbringing, their lives changed forever when their family decided to stay in Russia amid the Revolution, hopefully awaiting a return to normalcy. Instead, they were met with death and destruction.

Now the girls live with their aunt Marie instead of their parents --- dead of exposure from imprisonment --- and leave their formerly grand estate, Moscow House, every day to hunt for work scrubbing toilets in exchange for food. Built during the reign of Catherine the Great, Moscow House was one of Irina’s family’s many houses, now their one oasis in a sea of Bolshevik mayhem. Irina and her loved ones are haunted daily by the memories of what they’ve lost and the secrets of their past. Life is unchanging yet somehow still bleaker by the minute.

"Perfect for readers of Isabel Cañas, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and even historical fiction authors like Marie Benedict, THE HAUNTING OF MOSCOW HOUSE is a spellbinding blend of history and horror that reminds us that some secrets are better left to the dead."

However, on the day we meet Irina and Lili, change has come. First, they encounter a team of bawdy Americans working with the American Relief Administration. The men have come to feed the children of Russia --- and eventually, with further support from Comrade Lenin, the whole of the country’s starving and downtrodden. Hearing the girls’ comfort with languages, they offer Irina and Lili jobs as interpreters, bookkeepers, secretaries or clerks, promising them that theirs is a strictly non-political organization that will not attract the Cheka police. Irina and Lili are tempted, but their every move is watched in Russia, so they’ll need to talk to their aunt and grandmother first.

But that is only the first unusual occurrence. When Irina and Lili return home, they find that Moscow House has been commandeered by Bolsheviks, and their family has been relegated to the attic, a dusty, dirty place set above the remote east wing of the manor. The Bolsheviks will take the west wing…along with the family’s food, vodka, wine, fine clothing and anything else they deem valuable. It’s a perfect storm, and a perfect push to take the Americans up on their offer. After all, Irina is hiding a secret: her baby cousin, five-year-old Seryozha, is actually her son, born out of wedlock before her fiancé was killed in battle. Marie arranged the adoption to preserve the family name, keeping the boy’s parentage secret from everyone, even Lili. If there is one bright side to cohabitating in close quarters, it is that Irina can finally act as Seryozha’s mother…in all but name.

As the family adapts to their new lodgings and the Bolsheviks make themselves at home, there are strange occurrences around dark and sullen Moscow House. First, Irina is awakened by noise in the east wing, then a series of apparitions of aristocrats dancing at a ball, and, finally, her own uncle Pasha, murdered in their dining room not long ago. His ghost leads her directly to a murdered Bolshevik right in her own home. A quick investigation rules out Irina, but still the Bolsheviks are wary of their formerly aristocratic roommates, and Irina feels that her situation has become even more precarious.

As Irina and Lili continue to work with the Americans, the apparitions back at Moscow House become more consistent, to the point that even the Bolsheviks can see them. Meanwhile, Marie, a proud Bible-thumper and conservative, has begun acting strangely. One night, she calls the girls to the formal dining room --- the scene of Pasha’s murder --- and greets them with a fully set table, donning her finest gown. “I must return to that night,” she tells them. “To change its course. To atone.”

Whatever has awakened in Moscow House, it seems to have been brought on by the Bolshevik invasion. But what if the haunting began on the night that Pasha took a bullet for his family? To find out more, the girls will have to investigate their home --- its secret corners and hidden riches --- and question former servants, aristocrats and other familiars to discover what is really haunting Moscow House…and if it is the living or the dead they should fear.

Russia’s deep, tragic history creates a rich atmosphere for Olesya Salnikova Gilmore's characters, and she does a tremendous job educating readers and getting them up to speed without distracting from her narrative or her protagonist. This strong, evocative foundation allows the deeper story, that of the Goliteva sisters, to live and breathe on the page.

Both girls have been traumatized and wounded by their plight, yet they maintain an admirable air of poise, even as they navigate new romantic relationships and the secrets of their family’s past. Their poignant, hopeful journeys juxtaposed against the bleakness of post-revolutionary Russia create a fantastic tension that Gilmore maintains even during the quieter moments of her narrative. And, of course, all of this is wrapped in what she does best: supernatural actors pulling the strings on a real cast. The ghosts here are classic, haunting and surprisingly beautiful in their morbidity, casting the novel in the soft glow of the unknown.

Perfect for readers of Isabel Cañas, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and even historical fiction authors like Marie Benedict, THE HAUNTING OF MOSCOW HOUSE is a spellbinding blend of history and horror that reminds us that some secrets are better left to the dead.