Contemporary Russian Short Story

Natalya Melyokhina knows life in contemporary Russian villages from the inside, so many of her works are devoted precisely to this theme. But above all, each story is about people—their destinies—written with love for them and for life in general.

Natalya Melyokhina is a prose writer and critic. Winner of nationwide literary competitions and the international Voloshin Prize in the Prose category for 2013. Her work has been published in many Russian literary journals. Author of books “The Bear with a Patch on His Ear,” “Forget What They Called You,” and “By Request of the Village People.”

Vladimir Mikheev “A Thing Coming in from the Dark”
After burying his wife, with whom he lived for 20 years, the hero of the story was glad. He was glad because she once betrayed him—and he couldn’t forgive her betrayal. But he couldn’t live without her either…