A spellbinding collection of eighteen stories from one of Russia s finest contemporary writers Tatyana Tolstaya is one of Russia s most celebrated writers, known for her exuberant, irrepressible fictions and caustic wit. In this new collection, her first to be translated into English in more than twenty years, Tolstaya's ecstatic, witty and witchy imagination is in full force in stories that transform everyday realities into miraculous other worlds. 'The foremost writer of her generation, a miniaturist whose stories combine the linguistic stardust of Vladimir Nabokov and the emotional wisdom of Anton Chekhov.' Washington Post 'An enchantress.' Edna O'Brien, author of The Little Red Chairs