Christmas carols, the devil, fresh-baked bread, unrequited love, a witch's broomstick, Catherine the Great, cossacks, paintings, vodka, stolen moon, an unexpected blizzard, sausage, and one very fancy pair of shoes - all is mayhem and merriment in Nikolai Gogol's delightful Christmas tale.

From Egypt to a Russian village to the mountains of Eastern Europe and back - one of the old-fashioned gentlemen of Russian Literature Nikolai Leskov takes his readers on a journey of spirit, mind, and imagination.

"Faces of Hardship" is an anthology of short stories and novellas by Ukrainian writer, translator, and political activist Ivan Franko, showing the unpopular, uncomfortable, and unattractive sides of life in late 19th - early 20th century Ukraine and Russia in vivid color.