Life Stories — Ludmila Petrushevskaya

A novelist catches up with his future... a president is under house arrest after setting off a nuclear war... an off-planet skipper leads a hunt for a mysterious life-giving creature... a single mother protects her disabled son... a man finds serenity in his ­vacation-emptied city... a woman looks for love in silence... a thunderstorm turns lives upside down... an oligarch makes a unexpected ­career change... a detective solves a murder and doesn't like what he finds... a family copes with Russia's medieval future... a traveler grapples with Pushkin's killer... a disaffected son mourns his mother...

These are just some of the stories in this wonderful collection of original works by 19 leading Russian writers. They are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination. Masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today, these tales reassert the power of
Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways.

Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book will go to benefit Russian
hospice -- not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

"Only once in a great while does such a rich collection of stories appear -- so many voices, moods, temperaments, takes. Life Stories lives up to its title: it's a life-enhancing compendium, full of variety and color, humor, sadness, and -- in the best Russian tradition -- wisdom." â€" Jay Parini, author of The Last Station