The Queen of Spades and Other Stories

This collection of Pushkins stories begins with The Queen of Spades, perhaps the most celebrated short story in Russian literature. The young Hermann, while watching some friends gambling, hears a rumour of how an officers grandmother is always able to predict the three winning cards in a game. He becomes obsessed with the woman and her seemingly mystical powers, and seeks to extract the secret from her at any cost. This volume, part of a new series of the complete works of Pushkin in English, also includes Dubrovsky, the story of a mans desire to avenge himself after his land is unjustly taken from him by an aristocrat; The Negro of Peter the Great, a tale inspired by Pushkins maternal grandfather; and the unfinished story Egyptian Nights, a meditation on poetry and the poet. Together, they represent some of the most striking and enduring pieces of Pushkins prose fiction.