Vanka

Written by Anton Chekhov

Narrated by Anastasia Bertollo

This story was written in 1886. Vanka Zhukov was a Nine-year-old boy who was an orphan and he was a pupil of the shoemaker - Alyakhin. His grandfather was watchman in the mansion of some gentlefolk called Zhivarev. On the eve of Christmas Vanka decided to write a letter to his grandfather. In the letter he was pleading to take him back to the Zhivarev's mansion. He told his grandfather how his life was difficult in Moscow, how he was punished and hurted. He even wanted to escape from Moscow, but the weather was cold and he didn't have any shoes. The boy remembered his past life, his mother and Olga Ignatyeva who gave a job to his mother. Olga Ignayeva respected the boy and taught him to read and write. He also remembered that grandfather took him to a forest when he went for Christmas tree and how it was good days. After he sent that letter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SmartTouch Media
• Release date: Jan 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781467605304

Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog, in southern Russia, and in his youth paid for his own education and supported his entire family by writing short, satirical sketches of Russian life. Though he eventually became a physician and once considered medicine his principal career, he continued to gain popularity and praise as a writer for various Russian newspapers, eventually authoring more literary work and ultimately his most well-known plays, including Ivanov, The Seagull, and Uncle Vanya. He died of tuberculosis in 1904, and is regarded as one of the best short story writers in history, influencing such authors as Ernest Hemingway, Vladimir Nabokov, and Raymond Carver.