Husband, Wife and Satan

The charming couple, Lev and Adelina Guglitsky—an antique arms collector and a Russian literature teacher—find themselves drawn into an incredible chain of events after an uninvited guest visits their Moscow apartment. Who is he: a man or a ghost? Or maybe it’s just someone’s calculated and clumsy prank?

In this unexpectedly warm family story, there’s room for everything: love, adventure, a kind smile, compassion, sadness, and even a small journey into the past.

And as always—brilliant style, an unchanged sense of humor, and the author’s ironic view of the world will give the reader plenty of wonderful moments.

It was Prosko­vya who first noticed him. “The devil—no, not a devil, but something was definitely there.” Or it lived—quietly, but apparently constantly. And Prosko­vya couldn’t make out whether it was alive or not. Later, over time, she guessed that it was actually more alive and nastier than the opposite. Besides, it was tricky in a way only the undead can’t be—everything was going that way.

It began with something metallic rumbling in the kitchen, closer to late evening, when you can still make sense of what’s happening without turning on the light. Prosko­vya started saving electricity—the rest of the power too—after she heard a polite call from the TV. They hinted, supposedly politely, and then even carefully shamed her. She heard it and took it to heart, especially because times were bad: money for many simply vanished into nowhere—through those damned dollars and this damn default that happened a year ago. That’s what Lyova told her.

Prosko­vya didn’t dig into the details of that sad event, though people around her—on the street, at the market, and everywhere—talked about all sorts of things. But still, in those words that settled in her ears, there was mostly bad and evil. They cursed the authorities, they cursed one another, they cursed themselves. Yet she couldn’t understand all of it—even if you take the very top, not to mention guessing the consequences or predicting what will happen in life. She also couldn’t think about what fate awaited all of them next: her, Cherep, and Gogol. The owners—what of them? They’re young and smart. They’ll survive. And Lyova—he’s even thrifty. If anything happens, he’ll throw his museum into the bargain. The hostess used to say those jellies were of great value—historical and cultural. But if there’s nothing to eat, what do these statues have to do with it? They’ll smear them over bread instead of butter? It was hard to believe in the reliability of such insurance—so, in her understanding, it was better to save electricity than to burn it. And everything else, until the people stop being so vicious.