The queen of spades and selected works

'Pushkin is an extraordinary phenomenon and, possibly, the only manifestation of the Russian spirit' Nikolai Gogol The selected works of one of Russia's greatest writers, including 'The Queen of Spades', 'The Stationmaster' and a selection of Pushkin's best poetic work A young man plots to unearth a secret from an elderly countess - a secret he believes will win him a fortune. 'The Queen of Spades' is Pushkin's prose masterpiece, a gripping tale of avarice, obsession, madness and cards. This wonderful collection also includes the keenly and sympathetically observed story 'The Stationmaster'; the narrative poem 'The Bronze Horseman'; a selection of Pushkin's lyric poems; the ribald saga of 'Tsar Nikita and his Forty Daughters'; and excerpts from Yevgeny Onegin and Mozart and Salieri.

It serves as an ideal introduction to the incomparable Pushkin, the headspring of all Russian literature. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Translated by Anthony Briggs. Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) ranks as one of Russia's greatest writers.

He published his first poem when he was fifteen, and in 1820 his first long poem-Ruslan and Lyudmila-made him famous.

His work, including the short story 'The Queen of Spades', the novel-in-verse Yevgeny Onegin and the long poem 'The Bronze Horseman', has secured his place as one of the greatest writers ever to have lived.

He died aged 37, having been wounded in a duel.