Amor Towles
Born: July 24, 1964 – Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Amor Towles is an American novelist known for elegant historical fiction centered on class, character, and social ritual. He is the author of Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway. His work has become internationally bestselling and widely translated, earning broad critical and popular acclaim.
Biography & Author's Journey
Raised in the Boston area, Amor Towles came to writing early. He has recalled knowing in first grade that he wanted to be a fiction writer after a poet visited his classroom, an experience that fused reading, performance, and authorship in his imagination. He later graduated from Yale and earned an MA in English from Stanford. Yet his path was not linear. For more than twenty years he worked as an investment professional, and for part of that time he wrote little or not at all. A difficult turning point came when he set aside an earlier novel about Stalinist Russia after years of work, an outcome that forced him to reconsider both his process and his long-held ambition. ((https://www.amortowles.com/amor-towles-bio/))
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Community Voices
"Amor Towles is a master of language and one of the best storytellers of our time"
— Bookreporter
"Towles is a supreme storyteller, and this one-of-a-kind kind of novel isn't to be missed"
— Publishers Weekly
"Towles is a polymath...at heart, he is a humanist with deep compassion for even the faultiest among us"
— Los Angeles Times
"Few contemporary authors quite capture the comic drama of fluctuating fortunes as ably as Towles"
— Financial Times
"For all of Amor Towles's literary strengths, he hasn't shown much interest in character transformation"
— The Washington Post
"Using multiple points-of-view and shifting from comedy to tragedy and back again, Towles enthralls"
— O Quarterly
"Towles writes with grace and verve about the mores and manners of a society on the cusp of radical change"
— NPR.org
"Amor Towles's tale of cocktails, silk stockings and retro chic is redolent of all the best New York films and novels"
— The Guardian
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From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
