ant a little of that Tolstoy mastery without devoting yourself to a marathon read through “War and Peace” or “Anna Karenina”? Well, this is just the sprint for you. Tolstoy’s clear-eyed honesty is just as sharp in this little novella (1886) as in his great tomes. Ivan Ilyich is dead and, frankly, his friends and family secretly find the whole thing quite inconvenient. The dying wasn’t much better for poor Ivan, who becomes a victim of his own propriety as much as his disease. You’ll find yourself squirming with self-recognition.
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About the Author: Kate Swoger
Kate Swoger is too-rapidly approaching middle age. Following a young woman’s not-so-erotic journey from Montreal to Middle Europe, she settled in Toronto, where she works for CBC Radio. On her last birthday, she decided to write a short story for every month of the year, in an effort to become a published author. Her first story was recently printed in the Vancouver magazine Front, making her instantly immortal.