Dawn All Night by Ivan Bunin. Short summary

5 seconds

A girl can’t sleep in anticipation of meeting a young man she hasn’t seen in a year. She wanders through the garden at night and imagines herself as a wife. In the morning, she decides to refuse her fiancé.

1 minute

It is raining in the evening. Tata, a gymnasium graduate, is waiting for her father from the field. She is alone in the house: her brother Pavel is studying, her sister Anya lives married in Kursk, and her mother is long gone. The workers say that her father left long ago with Sivers, whom the girl has long been predicted as her bridegroom.

The tired father arrives and announces to his daughter that Sivers will come tomorrow to match her. The girl is embarrassed. She cannot sleep on a bright night in May. She thinks she is in love with her betrothed, though she has not seen him for a year.

Tata hears some sounds. She remembers her young man’s promise to meet him in the night garden. The girl thinks that the young man is already sneaking quietly onto the balcony. She contemplates what she will say to him and how she will walk with him through the wet alley.

The girl opens the balcony door and steps out into the garden. She walks in the pale light of dawn toward the lilac arbor. She feels as if someone is about to embrace her. Night turns to dawn, and Tata returns to the house. She is sound asleep when Seavers comes in. Tata already knows for sure that she will refuse her fiancé.