At the time of the first world war, russia was a nineteenth century nation. More than 90 % of the population in russia was peasantry. And so i knew that within the walls of the hotel, he was going to live a life very very different from those living elsewhere. The challenge for me was how do we combine these things and integrate them into one story? I don't want it to be strictly a fairy tale where you know as many ere going through the book,. which is obviously what so many people are doing with this novel.