6 h 26 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 26 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What would you risk for the secret of three winning cards?
In Alexander Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades, and Other Stories, a rumor turns restraint into hunger. Hermann, a thrifty officer who never gambles, hears of an elderly countess’s secret: three cards that promise a fortune. He seeks a way into her life through Lizaveta Ivanovna, her lonely ward, whose hopes make his pursuit more troubling.
Alongside the title story, the Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin bring together revenge, romance, dread, and ordinary sorrow. The Shot follows Silvio’s old grudge; The Blizzard tangles a wedding in a snowstorm. The Undertaker and The Stationmaster turn toward a coffin maker and a devoted father, while another tale follows a landowner’s daughter playing a peasant girl.
What you’ll discover
- A rumor takes hold Follow Hermann as the promise of wealth begins to crowd out everything else.
- Honor waits its turn Meet Silvio, a skilled marksman whose unspoken grudge gives a postponed duel its tension.
- Love meets a snowstorm Enter a romance where weather and mistaken identity send a wedding off course.
- Dread with a comic edge Visit Adrian Prokhorov’s world, where a coffin maker’s bad dream brings dark humor.
- Small lives carry weight Discover how Pushkin turns a lonely postmaster and everyday hopes into scenes of quiet sorrow.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy short stories with a sting will find ten quick pieces here: card tables and duels, lovers in disguise, a bandit and a Tsar, set across Russian life.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A supper story plants a secret in Hermann
- He courts a lonely companion to reach her mistress
- Silvio keeps a grudge he never fires
- A young woman flees into a blinding storm
- An undertaker takes offense at a toast
- A postmaster loses the daughter he adores
- Two feuding neighbors and a daughter in disguise
- A bandit and a village history give two portraits
- A Tsar's African finds love and loss at court
- A poem of wandering ends before the knife
Who’s who
- HermannA careful engineer officer who never plays cards but cannot forget the story of three winning cards.
- Countess Anna FedotovnaAn eighty-seven-year-old noblewoman who dresses in the style of her youth and is said to hold a secret for winning at faro.
- Lisaveta IvanovnaThe Countess's poor, ignored companion, who longs for a liberator and believes the letters of a stranger.
- SilvioA gloomy, skilled marksman in a garrison village who keeps a duel unfinished and waits for the day he can finish it.
- MariaA seventeen-year-old heiress raised on French novels who plans to elope with the poor ensign she loves.
- Lisa MuromskaiaA lively landowner's daughter who dresses as a peasant girl called Akulina to meet Alexei, her father's neighbor's son.
- IbrahimPeter the Great's African godson, an officer educated in Paris, who returns to Russia carrying a secret.
- AlekoA young man who flees the law and the city to join a Gypsy band and share its life.
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The Queen of Spades, and Other Stories
A young officer who never gambles lies in wait for an old countess who knows three winning cards.
Medium level5–10 hours to readItaliano
Excellent
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In short
Why would a careful man who never plays cards stake forty-seven thousand rubles on a single card? In The Queen of Spades, an engineer officer named Hermann hears a tale at a card party.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A supper story plants a secret in Hermann
The Queen of Spades opens at five in the morning, after the officers have played cards all night. One of them, Hermann, watches every game but never touches a card. He says he will not risk what he needs for the sake of what he does not.
Then Tomski tells a story about his grandmother, Countess Anna Fedotovna. Sixty years ago in Paris she lost a huge sum at faro. She turned to the Count of St. Germain, who gave her a secret, and that same evening she won back everything with three cards. She never gave the secret to her own sons.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 4 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Pushkin, Alexander. The Queen of Spades, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-queen-of-spades-and-other-stories.
Pushkin, A. (2026). The queen of spades, and other stories. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-queen-of-spades-and-other-stories
Pushkin, Alexander. The Queen of Spades, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-queen-of-spades-and-other-stories.
@book{pushkin2026queen,
author = {Pushkin, Alexander},
title = {The Queen of Spades, and Other Stories},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-queen-of-spades-and-other-stories}
}
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What is The Queen of Spades about?
A young officer named Hermann hears that an old countess knows three winning cards. He becomes obsessed with the secret and courts her young companion to reach her. The story follows what the obsession costs him.
What stories are in The Queen of Spades and Other Stories?
Besides the title story, the book holds The Pistol Shot, The Snowstorm, The Undertaker, The Postmaster, The Country Miss, Kirdjali, The History of the Village of Gorohina, Peter the Great's African and the poem The Gypsies.
What does Three, seven, ace mean?
They are the three cards said to win at faro when played in order. The Countess is believed to know them, and the phrase becomes the fixed idea that fills Hermann's thoughts, even his dreams.
The author
Alexander Pushkin
1799–1837 · Russian poet and novelist
Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist. He was born in Moscow in 1799 and died in Saint Petersburg in 1837. He wrote Eugene Onegin between 1823 and 1831. His other works include the play Boris Godunov and the stories The Queen of Spades and The Captain’s Daughter.
More by Alexander Pushkin
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