The Keeper of Stories

She doesn’t remember when her collection began. Maybe it started with a scrap of conversation she happened to overhear while cleaning the sink in the kitchen? Janis noticed that people talked to her about themselves while she wiped dust in the living room or defrosted the fridge—and at some point she started to listen more closely, to immerse herself in these stories, to gather and keep them… Only this way can you truly get to know people and understand what kind of society surrounds you.

Yet nobody was interested in Janis’s life until she began working for Mrs. Bee. In Janis’s view, there was nothing to tell. But Mrs. Bee, at ninety-two, is smart and perceptive—she suspects Janis’s story deserves the closest attention…

First in Russian!