The Darling and Other Stories

Rain threatens to drown the open-air theatre, and its manager cries, “I might as well hang myself!” Olenka listens—and feels his troubles as if they were her own.

In a provincial town, the Tivoli’s fortunes rise and fall with the weather and the whims of its audience. Olenka, tender-hearted and unable to live without loving someone, is drawn to Kukin and his fierce devotion to the stage; soon, his opinions become hers, and the theatre fills her days and thoughts. But what happens when the person she loves changes, or is no longer there to tell her what matters? Across this collection, Chekhov finds tenderness, comedy and unease in the private lives of ordinary people. How will Olenka make a life of her own?

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