The Queen of Spades

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin earned the title not only of «great Russian poet», but also of an outstanding storyteller, playwright, and prose writer. His short prose is characterized by a dynamic plot, genius simplicity of narration, and charismatic characters. This book includes his tales «Rostavlev» (written in response to the novel of the same name by Mikhail Zagoskin as an attempt to rethink the motivation of the main heroine), «Dubrovsky» (the story of a noble avenger), «The Queen of Spades» (about the gambling engineer Hermann, whose passion and greed drove him to madness), «Kirdzhali» (about a fierce bandit), and the mysterious unfinished «Egyptian Nights» (inspired by stories of the morals of Cleopatra's times).