The Forged Coupon and Other Stories

About this book

A forged coupon sets off a chain of harm that ripples through families and strangers; other stories examine ballrooms and barracks, innocence and authority, punishment and forgiveness. Tolstoy's late style favors moral causality, small wrongs magnified, small kindnesses tested, told in plain language that refuses to flatter the reader. Alyosha the Pot, There Are No Guilty People, After the Ball, and The Young Tsar extend the volume beyond its title tale, each pressing on how societies distribute blame and how individuals might resist it. Serious, sometimes severe, these stories reward readers who want fiction as ethical inquiry rather than escape.