Women’s Lies by Lyudmila Ulitskaya. Short summary

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This is a novella consisting of independent short stories united by the theme of unselfish lying. Women, dissatisfied with real life, embellish it with fantasies.

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There are lies that are completely harmless — fantasies. In each story in the collection, girls and women try to embellish the life in which they exist.

«Diana» is a resort girl’s account of the death of her daughter, Diana. Later the listener of this tragic story, Zhenya, discovers that the narrator had an only son and no daughter at all.

«Brother Yurochka.» The story features the same Zhenya. She lives in the dacha with her 2 sons and 2 minor relatives. Adding to the 4 boys is 10-year-old Nadya, the daughter of the landlady of the rented dacha.

She always inserted the phrase: «And my older brother Yurochka, he’s 14, did/talk, etc.» In fact, Nadia didn’t really have a brother. But her fantasies helped the girl reign over the boys.

The literature professor makes up for her unrealized ambition through fantasy. She longs for her own piece of fame.