This collection of Pushkins stories begins with The Queen of Spades, perhaps the most celebrated short story in Russian literature. The young Hermann, while watching some friends gambling, hears a rumour of how an officers grandmother is always able to predict the three winning cards in a game. He becomes obsessed with the woman and her seemingly mystical powers, and seeks to extract the secret from her at any cost. This volume, part of a new series of the complete works of Pushkin in English, also includes Dubrovsky, the story of a mans desire to avenge himself after his land is unjustly taken from him by an aristocrat; The Negro of Peter the Great, a tale inspired by Pushkins maternal grandfather; and the unfinished story Egyptian Nights, a meditation on poetry and the poet. Together, they represent some of the most striking and enduring pieces of Pushkins prose fiction.