Her Lover

A (very) short, quirky little story by Gorky, available free online:Here

The story tells of a student in Moscow living across from a Polish woman “whose repute is questionable”. He holds her in disdain, and actively avoids her.
When she approaches him and asks him to write a letter to her lover, he does so. A week or two later she approaches him to write another letter, this time from her lover to her. The student becomes angry, accusing her of telling him a pack of lies.
Eventually he sits down and asks her what is going on. A lonely woman, she takes her letters to another who, believing them to be real reads them out to her, giving her the opportunity to pretend they are, and that she is happy.
The student realises that he has misjudged her - and writes letters for he from that time on, until she is put in prison some 3 months later.

4 stars.

Petra's review is much deeper than mine, and takes the analysis deeper than mine. Go read that review: Petra's Review