About this audiobook
Hermann, a young military engineer, watches other people play cards but refuses to risk his own money. His caution changes when he hears that an elderly countess knows the secret of three winning cards. The possibility of certain wealth takes hold of his imagination, and what begins as a story told in company becomes an obsession that governs his decisions.
To reach the countess, Hermann courts her young ward, Lizaveta Ivanovna. His calculated attention draws another person into a scheme she does not understand. Alexander Pushkin builds tension through the contrast between the engineer's apparently rational plans and his growing dependence on a promise that may have no rational foundation.
The story brings social ambition, manipulation and the lure of gambling into an unsettling encounter with the mysterious. It will appeal to readers who enjoy concise psychological fiction, ambiguous supernatural elements and questions about how far a person may go when the desire for wealth overwhelms ordinary restraint.
