Toward the end of his life, old Earl amused himself by setting his descendants against one another, and he managed one last joke before departing this world: after his death, the family discovered seven wills, all bearing the same date and each naming a different heir. On August 4, 1848, Earl’s numerous relations came rolling…
October 1922 Vladivostok, Russia At the crossroads stood a crooked streetlamp that had not been lit since the war began. Every time Klim passed it, his hands clenched into fists. Two months earlier, his wife had nearly been killed beneath that very lamp. Nina usually went to the market with their landlady, Aunt Valya. Young…
Moscow1906 During the intermission, Lubochka Schuster found herself in front of the wrong door and thus unwittingly ruined her childhood. She was looking for the restroom and wandered into a dark corridor by mistake. There was a door sign with a lady’s hat on it. Lubochka pushed it slightly ajar . . . and froze. The…
From the 1909 Russian Empire Travel Guide: The Nizhny Novgorod Fair is a modern wonder of the world. It is the biggest marketplace in Russia, attracting merchants and buyers from all over the Empire and surrounding countries. Every year, Basil Kupin rented a store at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, placed a sign over it that…
When Klim Rogov was five, his nanny, Marisha, took him for a walk. They wandered through the park and came across an old, dried-up fountain, its basin choked with faded leaves. Klim had heard whispers: years ago, a boy had drowned there. He gripped Marisha’s hand tighter, transfixed by the cracked stone face at the…
Shanghai, 1910 Don Fernando José Burbano—a first-class smuggler and, at least, third-rate gangster in the bustling port of Shanghai—had a favorite pastime. He loved holding court at the Three Pleasures tavern, where sailors of all nations and ranks, colonial officials, weary prostitutes, and tourists overwhelmed by the city’s mix of opulence and filth gathered around…
When I die and find myself at the pearly gates, a stern angel in gleaming armor will stop me and ask: “So… writing your life away, huh?” “Yes, sir,” my soul will mumble, sheepishly. “Did your writing do anyone any good?” “Well…” my soul will hesitate, shifting from one bare heel to the other. “I…
Marco first met her when she was moving into the house across the street. He stepped out of his building and stared at her, bewildered. She was a slender, petite woman who looked like a big-eyed, fierce fairy dressed in a leather jacket and baggy cargo pants with countless pockets. A white cockatoo perched on…
