Three Drops of Blood

The title story, Three Drops of Blood, follows the protagonist's increasingly unstable mental state through the repeated occurrence of three drops of blood, while 'Hadji Murat' depicts an almost Joycean epiphany in classically understated terms, as a man mistakes another woman for his wife. These are stories which, though set in a distinctive milieu, deal with universal truths and cut to the very essence of humanity.