"I’m Letting You Go" by Maria Metlitskaya, summary Automatic translate

The collection of short stories, "I’m Letting You Go," was written in 2019. This book tells the stories of ordinary women trying to cope with loneliness, overcome family drama, and find long-awaited inner peace. It is the fourth installment in the "Women’s Fates: The Cozy Prose of Maria Metlitskaya" series. This popular series also includes "In a Quiet Town by the Sea," "Another Vera," and "Beware, the Doors Are Closing."

A chilly winter in Venice

Thirty-seven-year-old Nika flies to Venice with her boyfriend, Ilya. They’ve been together for eight years, but Ilya is not free — he has a wife, Tatyana, a son, Ivan, and a mother-in-law, Violetta Leopoldovna. Nika had long dreamed of this trip, hoping to strengthen their unofficial union. She imagined that in this fairytale place, everything would be different, filled with antiquity and magic.

Venice greets the lovers with cold, rain, and thick fog. Instead of romantic strolls, Ilya prefers to sleep in a cold hotel room or watch TV. His slowness and sybaritic behavior irritate Nika, but her non-confrontational nature forces her to adapt to his habits. However, Ilya always praised her for her intelligent submissiveness and compliance, comparing her to his nagging wife.

Nika, who loved peering into other people’s windows since childhood, imagines Venetian houses with crystal bottles, worn velvet, and old paintings. She recalls the lines of Pasternak, Akhmatova, and Blok. She dreams of the historical spirit of a city once visited by Goethe, Byron, Casanova, and Brodsky. However, reality turns out to be much more prosaic.

Trying to salvage the trip, Nika wanders alone through the narrow streets. She buys bright red rubber boots and a green raincoat, feeling like a brightly colored parrot. In St. Mark’s Square, she takes refuge in the gallery next to the historic Café Florian, warming herself with cognac and contemplating her fate.

Nika buys a souvenir in a small shop — a blue glass turtle. The seller assures her that this "tartaruga" brings unexpected surprises. She returns to the hotel with a box of cakes, hoping to appease Ilya, but their relationship becomes increasingly frosty.

Ilya’s family concerns

Nika accidentally overhears Ilya’s phone conversation with his family. It turns out that Tatyana has been hospitalized for two weeks now for an examination. Their son, Vanya, is skipping school, lying, and stealing money from his grandmother’s purse. Ilya is irritated, but hides his domestic problems from Nika, saying that Tatyana is just "something nonsensical."

She understands that Ilya simply escaped responsibility and everyday difficulties by going on vacation together. Over the years of their secret affair, Nika had become accustomed to putting up with tricks and deception. She had an abortion out of fear of losing Ilya, made their rented apartments cozy, and never asked him for financial help, even though her friends considered her a fool.

Two days before the end of his vacation, Ilya urgently flies to Moscow due to his wife’s deteriorating health. Nika is left alone. To her surprise, she feels an enormous sense of relief.

Blue Turtle Surprise

On the last day, the sun finally appears in the sky. Nika takes a gondola ride along the Grand Canal. The seasickness and the late dinner she ate the night before make her feel very nauseous. The experienced gondolier, a father of four sons, suspects that the signora is expecting a child.

Nika buys pregnancy tests at the pharmacy, which come back positive. She realizes that this is the blue turtle’s long-awaited surprise. Tears of joy roll down her cheeks: she’s starting a new life, truly her own.

She answers Ilya’s call and says she’s doing great. Inside, she says goodbye to him, saying, "I’m not holding you back. I’m letting you go." Nika is happy, because she’s going to have a child — their future little family with her mother.

Bitter news for Rina

The heroine of the second story, "Nine Days in October," Rina, a forty-three-year-old Muscovite, works as a department head at a major advertising agency. She’s tough, responsible, and completely immersed in deadlines and business dinners. Rina’s personal life has been rocky since her long-ago divorce from her classmate Vadik and an abortion.

Rina’s only true close friend was her college friend Margoshka. She passed away several years ago after a serious illness, leaving behind her husband, Igor, and son, Mitya. Rina often talks to her friend’s photograph, sharing her innermost thoughts and admitting that after her friend’s death, her loneliness became absolute.

Late one evening, Valentina calls on her old home phone. Valentina is her father Alexander’s second wife. She informs her that her father has died after a serious illness, and the funeral will take place the day after tomorrow.

Alexander Korsakov abandoned the family twenty-seven years ago, when Rina was fifteen. Rina’s mother, Shurochka, soon married a cheerful Norwegian named Kolya and moved to Tromsø. Rina never forgave her father for leaving her for a village woman.

Krokodinovo welcomes a guest

Rina takes a train to the distant town of K., and from there, in an old Zhiguli, she travels to the village of Krokodinovo. Along the way, she recalls her childhood: her beloved grandmother Musya from Leningrad, who taught her manners, and her strict grandmother Irina Ivanovna from the village. Valentina greets her stepdaughter with tears in her eyes. She is a slender woman with an icon-like face and a heavy braid.

The current trip stirs up old grievances in Rina’s memory. She recalls visiting her strict grandmother, Irina Ivanovna, here as a child. Back then, a village girl named Lena stole a beautiful French hairpin from Rina. Her grandmother told her to forgive the thief, predicting her hard life as a milkmaid with an alcoholic husband. These memories give Rina a new perspective on the harshness of rural customs.

Rina trades in her expensive Italian ankle boots for rubber boots and wool socks. The village is impassable due to heavy rains. Valentina treats her guest to hot potatoes and salted milk mushrooms. At the table, Rina recalls happy childhood moments when she and her father secretly fried potatoes in a frying pan.

Farewell at the edge of the forest

The funeral takes place on the hilly edge of a dense forest. Rina looks at her late father’s haggard face and quietly asks him for forgiveness for the long years of silence. The gravesite turns out to be stunningly beautiful — under pine and oak trees, near an old rowan tree, where a blue-sided jay chirps.

A few neighbors and her faithful friend Nina gather for the wake in a shabby roadside café. Rina is surprised to note that these simple people are devoid of falsehood and metropolitan snobbery. She is eager to return to Moscow, where an important project is scheduled for completion.

On the way to the station, Rina receives a call from her deputy, Edik. He panics and informs her that their vengeful boss, N., has killed a completed project and is planning to fire Rina and her department for a week’s absence. Rina makes the decisive decision to resign, unwilling to endure any more humiliation.

Remembering her boss, N., Rina mentally retraces his ascent. He was once a simple guy, married to the good-natured Svetlana, whom he later abandoned for a high-status young wife. N. was adept at getting rid of old comrades. In their youth, he and Rina nearly had a fleeting affair on the dark staircase of a scientific institute, but the passion faded of its own accord.

Disease in the village

Rina returns to Valentina’s house, having developed a severe chill and cough. She finds herself locked in a village hut with a high fever. Valentina carefully cares for her ailing stepdaughter, feeding her healing bitter herbs and warm milk with honey.

During her recovery, Rina becomes very close to her stepmother. Valentina talks about her family, about her grandfather Andrei and his deaf-mute wife, Marya Petrovna, who lived their lives in remarkable harmony.

Rina learns that her father left Moscow after the failure of his scientific project. He developed an ulcer due to nerves. Valentina nursed Alexander back to health with herbs, and here, in the wilderness, amid sunsets and fishing, he found peace of mind.

The father deeply missed his daughter, but he didn’t dare disturb her out of guilt. Rina bitterly regrets her pride and the fact that all these years she despised his simple village life.

Return and a new solution

On the ninth day after Alexander’s death, the clouds part, revealing a beautiful summer day. Rina goes to the cemetery, where she mentally bids farewell to her father and thanks him for the lesson he taught her.

Edik unexpectedly arrives in Krokodinovo in a company car. He reports that Boss N., terrified of Rina’s dismissal, has approved the project and asks her to return to work immediately. Rina agrees to go, but she no longer holds on to her prestigious position.

Saying goodbye to Valentina, Rina invites her to Moscow for the New Year’s holidays to go to the Tretyakov Gallery and the theater together. She realizes her life is just beginning. On the way home, Rina calls her frivolous mother, Shurochka, who is getting ready to go to Paris, and smiles at the new day.