A Case at the Masquerade

Maria Kucherskaya is a prose writer, philologist, and the author of the books "God of Rain", "Aunt Motya", "You Were Completely Different", "Lament for the Departed Drawing Teacher", as well as the biography "Leskov: The Overlooked Genius". She is the creator of the program "Literary Mastery" at the National Research University "Higher School of Economics" and the Creative Writing School. "Opening a book of Christmas stories, I felt like a girl who was allowed to read fairy tales again. These were indeed fairy tales, but for adults. They provided confidence: no matter what was happening outside, no matter how fierce the icy blizzard was hitting the windows, the fire in the hearth would still blaze, the Christmas tree would shine and fill the room with the scent of pine, and loved ones would sit nearby at the common table. And thus, miracles are completely real. This is also true for the collection 'A Case at the Masquerade'. I collected in it not only Christmas stories but also those that definitely contain miracles and warmth." Maria Kucherskaya