Includes bibliographical references (pages 383-404) and index.

Introduction. Prologue: Restless souls -- O'C -- Part I: Dashing young revolutionaries. The dreadnought -- Rebel Ireland and the new Russia -- The rotunda -- A nest of revolution -- A tomb of revolution -- Part II: Revolutionary dreams at the Hotel Lux 1923-1929. Checking in -- Sweeping away the old order -- The language of revolution -- Mixing poetry and facts -- The family -- These Russian boys think being Irish so wonderful -- The new stars and the smaller lights -- The eternal propusk -- On with the dance -- Archives at the end of the world -- Part III: The found generation 1929-1945. The time of bad roads -- Proust for breakfast -- Leaving the land of sorrows -- German family Robinson -- Belomor -- The Alpenpost -- Testimony -- La Guinguette -- The avalanche -- A Jeter -- Part IV: The living commune 1940s-1970s. The lobby -- Secret speech -- The famous kiss -- Sympathy -- Epilogue: Impossible desires.

"The extraordinary story of a group of forgotten radicals who found themselves drawn to communist Moscow’s hotbed of international revolutionary activity: the Hotel Lux. Hotel Lux follows Irish radical May O’Callaghan and her friends, three revolutionary families brought together by their vision for a communist future and their time spent in the Comintern’s Moscow living quarters, the Hotel Lux. Historian Maurice Casey reveals the connections and disconnections of a group of forgotten communist activists whose lives collided in 1920s Moscow: a brilliant Irish translator, a maverick author, the rebel daughters of an East London Jewish family, and a family of determined German anti-fascists. The dramatic and interlocking histories of the O’Flahertys, Cohens and Leonhards offer an intimate insight into the legacies of the Russian Revolution from its earliest idealism through to the brutal Stalinist purges and beyond. Hotel Lux uncovers a world of forgotten radicals who saw their hopes and dreams crash against reality yet retained their faith in a beautiful future for all. Culminating in a queer love story that saw the daughters of the Cohens and Leonhards create an enduring partnership even as their parents’ political visions crumbled, this is a multi-generational rebel odyssey and a history of international communism, one which looks as much to the future as it does to the past."-- Provided by publisher.

"Three revolutionary families brought together by their vision for a utopian future at the Comintern's Moscow living quarters, the Hotel Lux"--Front jacket flap.