by Leo Tolstoy
First published 2015
Pahom, a hardworking Russian peasant, dreams of owning his own land. When a strange offer emerges—all the ground he can walk around in a day for a fixed price—he sees his chance for prosperity. But greed transforms his measured steps into a desperate race against the setting sun. As Pahom pushes himself further and further across unfamiliar terrain, the landscape becomes both opportunity and trap. His single-minded pursuit of property will exact a brutal, ironic price that transcends mere acres. A searing parable of human desire and its ultimate limitations.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 19th-century, russian-literature
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: man-vs-nature, morality-tale
Setting: Russia
Period: Twilight of the Russian Empire
53 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics