A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
Where does the story take place?
Sheltering from a storm, a fearful forester says wicked men frighten him more than wild beasts—then a cry comes from outside.
A wealthy factory owner spends Christmas confronting the distance between her good intentions, her workers, and the life she longs to lead.
A retired lieutenant spends a sweltering day condemning the town’s idle natives while his own hours slip away.
After an opera, a sixteen-year-old tries to turn two admirers into the material for her first grand romantic sorrow.
A sober, pious man steals a midnight drink, swallows paraffin instead, and spends the night preparing for death.
Two small children make newborn kittens the center of their world, while the adults around them barely notice the stakes.
An impoverished young bride enters a joyless marriage, then discovers that beauty can confer a power her husband never expected.
An impoverished young woman supports a medical student who treats her body, labor, and loyalty as conveniences.
Five rainy days without her husband send a devoted young wife into town, where his empty flat raises an unwelcome question.
Weeks before her wedding, a young woman begins to see her comfortable provincial life—and the future chosen for her—with new clarity.
Two schoolboys arrive home for Christmas with maps, a pistol, and a secret plan to cross Siberia and seek gold in America.
Five children turn a forbidden late-night game of loto into a small world of greed, vanity, kindness, quarrels, and sudden sleep.
A student asks his volatile father for money to return to Moscow, turning an ordinary family dinner into a reckoning none can resolve.
Minutes after his only child dies, a doctor is summoned to another household and must weigh private grief against professional duty.
A self-assured critic and his widowed sister grow apart when her search for moral certainty challenges his literary convictions.
A scholar hires a French teacher to advance his research, but discovers that attraction is much easier than conjugation.
A seasoned prosecutor discovers that reasoning with his seven-year-old son is harder than addressing any court.
A minor journalist turns one night’s writing into a sacred ordeal, forcing his household to serve the drama of his creativity.
A nervous wife sees a man enter through the kitchen window and sends her sleepy husband into the dark to defend the household’s virtue.
A wealthy village family's corrupt business and private rivalries draw a poor young bride into a struggle over money, conscience, and power.
A minor clerk bursts home ecstatic that his name has appeared in print, whatever the reason.
A man tries to explain why the ordinary habits that once irritated him become forgivable when they belong to the woman he loves.
An opera star’s quiet night is interrupted by a husband whose grand business plans always require her money.
A lively young wife turns a minor illness into a household drama, while her devoted husband guards a patient who enjoys the part.
