Read by Eric Meyers, Christopher Ragland & Laurel Lefkow (Unabridged: 5hrs 44mins)

Featuring stories by Nikolai Gogol, Joseph Conrad, Isaac Babel, Mikhail Bulgakov & others.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?

The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.

Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.

Between the Russian Empire and Europe warily sits Ukraine.  Her own history has been brush stroked either by periods of independence or under the oppressive yoke of other more powerful and belligerent neighbours.

It’s authors, almost always cited as ‘Russian’, or from ‘Little Russia’ are diverse and brilliant.  Some of them stayed, some moved to other lands but always their works harbour part of their Ukrainian souls despite the ever-changing territorial borders.

In this compilation - 

01 - The Top 10 - The Ukrainians - An Introduction

2 - The Nose by Nikolai Gogol

3 - The Shades, A Phantasy by Vladimir Korolenko

4 - Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov

5 - A Witches Den by Helena Blavatsky

6 - The Informer by Joseph Conrad

7 - The Signal by Vsevolod Garshin

8 - The General's Will by Vera Jelihovsky

9 - The Blind Ones by Isaac Babel

10 - The Revolutionist by Mikhail Petrovich Artzybashev

11 - Dethroned by Ignaty Potapenko