The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru

By: Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

A fearless fortune teller in 1920s Paris must use her powers to divine who she can trust when an exiled Romanov princess and her brother come to her seeking answers about a decades-old mystery…


Spirited Zina and her secretive grandmother, Baba Valya, own a tearoom on rue Daru in Paris, where they have lived quietly since Zina’s mother’s untimely death. By day, the women serve tea, mostly to members of the bustling Russian émigré community, but when dusk falls, they divine fortunes and perform séances for their loyal clientele.


Then the charming Princess Olga and her brother arrive, searching for knowledge about the disappearance of their father, the exiled Grand Duke, cousin of the last Tsar of Russia. Zina, eager to learn more about the spirit world and her powers, performs the séance. She is able to summon the Grand Duke, but to her horror, he starts to haunt the shop, and he seems to know something sinister about her mother’s death.


As Zina delves into her family’s hidden past, dark secrets are unearthed, threatening the home and tearoom Zina and her grandmother have worked so hard to build, not to mention their very lives.

Critic reviews

"The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru is a spine-tingling gothic tale of family, a legacy of secrets, and the dangerous cost of unearthing the past through a forbidden séance. Gilmore conjures 1920s Paris and the Russian émigré community, delivering a haunting and compelling story that is sure to grip readers."—Madeline Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book Society

"An ingenious literary magician, Gilmore effectively and elegantly conjures up Paris in the 1920s and its Russian émigré community, adding to her addictively readable gothic tale a dash of romance and a generous splash of spooky supernaturalism. Fans of Yangsze Choo’s The Fox Wife (2024) and Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist (2014) will be equally enamored with this bewitching tale.”—Booklist (starred review)

"Salnikova Gilmore’s writing soars . . . dazzling readers with unforgettable scenery and achingly beautiful prose. This thrilling story of murder, generational power of love and treachery will be devoured in one sitting.”—Marina Scott, author of The Night Guests

"Gilmore’s latest historical horror will be another crowd-pleaser. For fans of menacing supernatural tales of family secrets, ghosts, possession, and intrigue, such as Alma Katsu’s The Deep or Daphne Fama’s House of Monstrous Women."—Library Journal

"A haunting, captivating gothic novel that will keep readers tight in its grip until the very last page."—Megan Chance, author of Glamorous Notions

“Salnikova Gilmore expertly balances historical detail, romance, and magic, weaving a tale that will make you truly believe in a world of spirits waiting just beyond the veil.”—Morgan Ryan, author of A Resistance of Witches