"Three Apples Fell from the Sky" by Narine Abgaryan, summary

The novel was created in 2014 and first published in 2015. This book chronicles the fading mountain village of Maran on the slopes of the Manishkar ridge. For generations, local residents have cherished the memory of their ancestors, facing famine, earthquakes, wars, and loss. Mutual support, loyalty to customs, and patient creativity help them overcome these difficult trials.

In 2016, the work was awarded the prestigious Yasnaya Polyana literary prize in the 21st Century category.

To the one who saw

Fifty-eight-year-old Anatolia Sevoyants is the youngest resident of the abandoned village of Maran. On Friday afternoon, she prepares for death: she waters the garden, hides food in the cellar, and takes out her funeral attire and an envelope of money. The reason for these preparations is the onset of uterine bleeding, which she believes is an incurable punishment for her childlessness.

Anatolia is the youngest daughter of Kapiton Sevoyants. Her mother, Voske, married Kapiton after the sudden death of her older sister, Tatevik, just before the wedding. Family legend has it that the offended deceased cast a curse upon her. Voske’s long hair became a talisman. Voske died young from carbon monoxide poisoning in a bathhouse. Then famine took her older sisters and great-grandmother, Mane.

Her father took little Anatolia to distant relatives in the valley, and he himself voluntarily refused food and faded away. Seven years later, the girl returned to her family home. She found work as a librarian and married a carpenter’s apprentice. The marriage turned into eighteen years of beatings and abuse. In a fit of rage, her husband chopped off her luxurious braids with an axe on an oak table and fled, taking her savings.

After enduring hardships, a protracted war, and the closure of her devastated library, Anatolia has found peace in solitude. Her neighbors, Shalvarants Hovhannes and his wife, Shlapkants Yasaman, care for her. On Saturday, Vasily Kudamants, a sixty-seven-year-old blacksmith, comes to Anatolia’s deserted home. The blacksmith’s sister, Satenik, a telegraph operator, has long been trying to persuade him to marry the modest, literate neighbor.

Vasily brings Anatolia a new braid and asks her to marry him. Confident of her imminent death, Anatolia agrees, hoping not to offend a good man with a refusal before her death. The blacksmith immediately begins preparing to move. Anatolia asks for two days to pack, intending to depart quietly.

Vasily survived the deaths of his father, mother, younger brother Akop, and three sons, who died at the front. His first wife, Magtakhine, died of a stroke while gardening. The blacksmith remembers the terrible famine of previous years, preceded by plagues of rats, flies, and a merciless drought.

During those years of famine, his brother Akop saw "blue pillars" — messengers lifting the souls of the dead to heaven. At the same time, a convoy of vehicles delivered aid to the village, including a white royal peacock. The bird settled on Melikants Vano’s veranda.

Two days later, Vasily brings his few belongings, livestock, and a snow-white dog named Patro to Anatolia. The weakened woman faints. Neighbors tend to her, and Yasaman gives her medicinal herbs. The bleeding stops, and her weakness slowly recedes. Anatolia resigns herself to Vasily’s presence, experiencing a new joy of family closeness and shared care.

To the one who told

Vano Melikants’s house stands on the very edge of a chasm created by a devastating earthquake. His family line traces its roots back to the Lusignan princes. A white peacock, brought during the famine, guarded Vano’s grandson, Tigran. The bird lived for thirty-three years and breathed its last in Tigran’s arms when he returned alive from the war. After burying his feathered protector at the edge of the cliff, the young veteran moved north, started a family, and opened a bakery.

Vano dies quietly in his sleep before Trinity Sunday. His widow, Valinka Eybogants, buries her husband in his old shoes and decides to return his new, good shoes to the shop. Her late husband begins appearing to her barefoot in dreams. Valinka gives the new shoes to Mariam Behlvanz, who tells her to put them on the feet of her deceased, overweight mother-in-law, so she can pass them on to the next world.

Postman Mamikon delivers a letter: Tigran, his Russian wife Nastasya, their adopted daughter Alisa, and their six-month-old son Kirakos are visiting. A delighted Valinka cleans up to perfection. She throws out the expired dry yeast her grandson sent from the city into the cesspool. The heat causes the yeast to react, and a foul-smelling sludge floods the yard. The old couple work together to clean up the aftermath of the accident.

Nastasya, who has arrived, is enchanted by the mountain silence. Together with the old women, she harvests horse sorrel, or aveluk. Unexpectedly, the young woman’s lactation, which had disappeared after a cold, resumes. She breastfeeds her son again and describes the life of the dying settlement.

In an abandoned attic, Nastasya discovers an ancient painting. She carefully cleans it with vegetable oil. Beneath the centuries-old layer of dirt, the image of a crusader ancestor emerges, with a white peacock with garnet eyes standing proudly at his feet. Shaken, Valinka refuses to leave her family home for the north, recognizing her connection to her native land.

To the one who listened

In the fall, Anatolia’s health deteriorates. She suffers from morning sickness, odor intolerance, and joint swelling. She conceals her illness by teaching her husband to read and write in the evenings. Touched by his wife’s kindness, the blacksmith forges an elegant iron rose for her.

At night, the ghost of the late Magtakhine comes to the veranda. In his youth, his first wife helped Vasily’s brother, Akop. The young man suffered from severe seizures, during which he foresaw the deaths of others. One day, he witnessed a devastating mudslide and convinced the villagers to build a protective wall. When the avalanche occurred, Magtakhine took the exhausted Akop to the village square and told him to renounce his tormenting gift of foresight. The young man was healed forever.

Vasily prays to Magtakhine’s spirit to save Anatolia. The woman reveals to her husband the truth about her long-standing bleeding. In the morning, telegraph operator Satenik calls an ambulance. The arriving doctors confirm an incredible fact: on the threshold of her sixtieth birthday, the emaciated mountain woman is five months pregnant.

Anatolia is taken to the city clinic. Vasily checks into a cheap hotel, works as a city janitor, and keeps watch outside the ward’s windows. Careless conversations spark a newspaper sensation, and the clinic is besieged by reporters. The head doctor hides the woman in labor and informs Vasily that due to blood pressure and weakness, he will have to undergo surgery in the seventh month.

At the end of December, Anatolia falls into a deep sleep. Seven days later, she is awakened by the barking of her dream dog, Patro, digging under an apple tree. Doctors perform a Caesarean section. On New Year’s Eve, a strong, healthy baby girl is born. The happy father names his daughter Voske, after his wife’s mother.

In February, Nemetsants Mukuch brings a mother and baby by sleigh to their home village. The elders clear the road of snowdrifts and greet the newborn with hot krkeni pies and a festive feast. Satenik solemnly returns to his brother the hidden photographs of his deceased sons.

The birth of a child brings joy and meaning to the elderly Maranians. Tigran and Nastasya attend the christening, and Mr. Azaria baptizes the girl in an ancient chapel. Soon, the dog Patro does indeed dig up the roots of a withered apple tree and finds a silver ring with an amethyst, stolen by the gypsy Patrina on Anatolia’s birthday. The jewel is returned to the family for little Voske. Three treasured apples fall from the sky: to the first witness, the storyteller, and the one who listened to this story with faith in goodness.