The Croquet Player. The Country of the Blind

A Player of Cricket is a story about how what seemed like nothing but a random meeting on a hotel terrace in Peronne changed the worldview and life pattern of the main character—a carefree cricket player named Georgy—making him think about love, justice, and his place in this world.

The Country of the Blind—more than three hundred miles from Chimborazo, a hundred miles from the snows of Cotopaxi, in the remote wilderness of the Ecuadorian Andes, lies a mysterious mountain valley—the Country of the Blind. There has never been rain or snow, but countless springs made it possible to irrigate the entire valley and turn it into a continuous, rich pasture. The settlers, of course, lived well. Their livestock grew fat and multiplied. Only one thing cast a shadow over their happiness. But even that one was enough to poison the bitterness of their days. A strange disease struck them, causing all newborns—and sometimes older children—to go blind. For many years, people tried to find a remedy for this inexplicable illness, but all attempts were in vain. And then, one day, a sighted man appeared in the village of the blind.

At first glance, his obvious advantage over the others turns out, in reality, to be his curse…