The First and the Last

Stories included in the audiobook “First and Last” are born of Russian prose—caring, sympathetic, and attentive to the “small” and “extra” people. With its precise and subtle lens, the author of “Poor Relatives” and “Sonechka” points out those barely noticeable turns and folds of everyday life that, thanks to Ulytskaia’s gift, can be both surprising and sharp, sometimes terrible, but more often symbolic. And yet they are always incredibly interesting.