Author Description

Leo Tolstoy, who taps into his very soul as profoundly as other Russian writers including Dostoevsky and Pasternak, is NEVER routine! What Tolstoy does is so rare among English writers: he weds Christian principle to universal human longing and a deeply-anchored sense of hope in ways that Robert Schuler or even Norman Vincent Peale never matched. Tolstoy was passionate about the battle between good and evil, and in each of these short stories, he shows another simple yet clear view of the struggle. If you have ever wondered whether a person of faith whose hopes have been dashed again and again can ever find inspiration and pray once more, take this elixir now! Be forewarned however, that if you have tears to shed, you should also prepare to shed them now. Tolstoy will always be regarded as a Russian national treasure. This is a very short and sparse story, yet his skill is such that he summons the essence of what it means to live and lose yet still love. With this scant amount of prose we feel the cold, the hunger, and the suffering. He reminds us all of our shortsightedness, of our need to judge and just how wrong we are so many times. It is the story of someone falling from grace and returning to the light. This is a biblical story and perhaps every parent should read this to his or her children once every year until they are grown. Very moving: for best effect, read it by candlelight!