788 Results in the "Literary Fiction" category


    • Chapter II – The Witchand Other Stories Cover
      by LovelyMay Chapter II opens as the evening quiet settles over the humble home, where each member of the family finds a place to rest. Nikolay, frail and bound by illness, lies atop the warm stove with his aging father beside him, seeking comfort in the heat radiating from the bricks. Sasha, younger and still filled with energy despite the day’s fatigue, stretches out on the floor without complaint. In a separate space, Olga and the women retreat to the barn, the soft rustle of hay beneath them offering a cushion…
    • Chapter III – The Witchand Other Stories Cover
      by LovelyMay Chapter III begins with the quiet stir of morning settling over the village, where golden sunlight softens the outlines of hardship. Marya, wrapped in her usual silence, walks to church alongside others, their heavy steps and heavy thoughts barely stirred by the soft rustle of dew-laced grass. As the service unfolds, their poverty remains invisible to the finely dressed newcomers from the grand house, whose presence only sharpens the line between privilege and necessity. Marya watches them without…
    • Chapter IV – The Witchand Other Stories Cover
      by LovelyMay Chapter IV opens with the intense heat of August weighing down on the village, pressing even the air into silence. Sasha, a young girl full of restless energy, is given the simple task of guarding the geese from the kitchen-garden. Her grandmother’s trust rests on thin ice, for Sasha’s sense of duty is often overpowered by curiosity. Just as expected, she soon slips away, unable to resist the pull of something more engaging than shooing birds. Her wandering feet carry her to the edge of a ravine, a…
    • Chapter V – The Witchand Other Stories Cover
      by LovelyMay Chapter V begins on a quiet evening during the Fast of the Assumption, where the small, cramped hut seems to shrink under the weight of hunger and silence. Marya moves about slowly, her hands steady but tired, portioning out what little food they have. Granny mutters disapprovingly as she breaks the fast early, too weak to care, while the children watch with a strange mix of curiosity and quiet judgment. Sasha and Motka don’t fully understand the spiritual meaning of fasting, but they’ve absorbed…
    • Chapter VI – The Witchand Other Stories Cover
      by LovelyMay Chapter VI draws a sharp emotional divide between two women sharing the same bleak home—Marya and Fyokla. Marya, worn down by years of hardship, speaks openly of her longing for death, as if only the end could offer relief. She carries her sadness like a weight, rarely raising her voice, but her presence is heavy with quiet despair. In stark contrast, Fyokla embraces the filth and disarray, clinging to her routine with pride, almost as if disorder is a form of control. Her scorn toward others, especially…
    • Chapter VII – The Witchand Other Stories Cover
      by LovelyMay Chapter VII begins with an unsettling quiet in Zhukovo, broken only by the slow, deliberate arrival of the police inspector. Known in the village simply as the master, he comes not with aid but to collect—over two thousand roubles in unpaid taxes owed by villagers already drowning in debt. His first stop is the tavern, not out of interest in the people but for a cup of tea, an act that adds to the sense of detachment he carries like armor. When he finally reaches the elder’s home, a crowd of anxious…
    • Chapter VIII – The Witchand Other Stories Cover
      by LovelyMay Chapter VIII reveals the slow erosion of wonder in the village of Zhukovo, where once lively tales and half-whispered legends have been replaced by plain talk of debt, hunger, and land disputes. Stories of buried treasure or ghosts have all but vanished, traded for complaints about taxes and the local Zemstvo, which Osip blames for the village’s steady decline. The villagers speak plainly now, with little left to dream about. Men, hardened by labor and disappointment, regard religion as something…
    • Chapter IX – The Witchand Other Stories Cover
      by LovelyMay Chapter IX opens with winter still pressing down on the village, unforgiving in its bitterness and relentless in its grip. The death of Nikolay marks not just a personal loss, but a breaking point in the household, where grief must now coexist with daily survival. Food supplies dwindle as the family stretches their resources, and even the simplest meals require effort and sacrifice. Kiryak, often loud and unrepentant at night, stirs frustration in the household with his careless routines, only to offer…
    • by LovelyMay Chapter I – Dawn O’Hara, The Girl Who Laughed Trashed opens not with joy, but in the haze of exhaustion. Dawn lies in a boarding house bed in New York, her mind fogged by fever and her spirit dulled by the city’s indifference. Still, in true Dawn fashion, she finds a spark of humor in the bleakness. Carnations perched beside her nod in silent agreement with her delirious observations. A nurse, too brisk to be cruel, becomes an unlikely character in her private theater of recovery. Though her strength…
    • by LovelyMay Chapter II – Dawn O’Hara, The Girl Who Laughed Trashed begins not with drama, but with eggs. Dawn finds herself removed from the frenzied chaos of New York and placed into the gentle rhythm of life at her sister Norah’s serene home. There, in a quiet room that smells of lavender and fresh linens, she confronts the peculiar monotony of convalescence. Meals revolve around eggs—soft-boiled, scrambled, in custards and in puddings—each bite a reminder of how far she’s come from the caffeine-fueled…
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