A very Russian Christmas The greatest Russian holiday stories of all time

This collection features 12 Russian stories from the 19th and early 20th centuries. While the tales take place at Christmas, they vary widely, from a story of two young boys trying to run away to a man's quest for vodka and his reckoning after dying in the snow. However, they all seem to share a common thread of misery running through them. VERDICT While some of the pieces here appear in English for the first time, and stories from notable Russian authors Anton Chekhov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy are included, this anthology will most likely only be appreciated by die-hard Russian literature enthusiasts, as these are not traditional or endearing holiday tales. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.