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Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine.

History is often told through the epic struggles of famous personalities or grand movements,

but sometimes the voices of ordinary people break through, illuminating the past with a rare, intimate light.

In this episode, Morris J. Casey speaks to Danny Bird about his new book Hotel Lux, which follows

three connected families through the upheavals of the 20th century.

Bound by idealism, friendship and love, their journeys begin in 1920s, Moscow,

inside the legendary titular Hotel Looks, once a sanctuary for international revolutionaries

drawn to the Soviet Union's bold vision for a better world.

Morris, your book dives deep into the forgotten stories of the international revolutionaries

who lived at the Hotel Lux in Moscow in the decades following the October revolution of

1917. How did you even begin to uncover their personal stories? And what were some of the

challenges you faced while doing your research?

Well, Danny, this all began for me back in 2016.

I had just started my PhD, and my PhD topic was Irish women and international communism.

My research process was basically I would find old memoirs, archival sources, and I would do a kind of control F and find mentions of Ireland or Irish people or Irish women. And that process,

...