On Beasts and Men

The volume that includes stories dedicated to our «younger brothers» is one of the components of a peculiar «triptych» that gives an idea of the three main directions in the work of the outstanding Russian writer Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi (1872–1952).... Before Teffi, few managed to delve so deeply into child psychology, to create an «encyclopedia of women's life» and to see a living, sensitive soul in a beast. As Teffi shows, animals can love with the most human love, selfless and sacrificial. «...None of my stories, with rare exceptions, sparked such a passionate response from readers as those about animals,» the writer confessed («The Sign of the Times»). The book is accompanied by illustrations by Victoria Kirdii.