"Bitter Chocolate" by Maria Metlitskaya, summary Automatic translate

This collection of short stories was published in 2022. It brings together five independent stories that reveal the complex life experiences of ordinary people. The heroines search for happiness, make irreparable mistakes, sacrifice themselves for their loved ones, and face betrayal. The book is permeated with the theme of difficult choices between duty, habit, and true love.

The book is published in the author’s popular series "Behind Other People’s Windows." The series is dedicated to women’s lives and everyday psychology. This book series also includes such well-known works as "The Mother-in-Law’s Diary," "Violets for Dessert," "The Mistake of Youth," and "The Restless Life of a Single Woman." There is no fixed numbering of volumes within the series.

And we will all be happy

Kira and Mikhail meet through mutual friends. Both have families. Mikhail is married to Nina, and the couple is raising a young daughter, Katya. Kira lives with her quiet but unloved husband, Volodya. A resurgence of love forces the lovers to break up their previous marriages. Kira packs her suitcase and leaves her husband. Mikhail leaves the apartment to his ex-wife. A long period of wandering through strange corners begins.

At first, the couple lives in Lyosha Zyablov’s office. Zyablov, known to everyone as Zyablik, is Mikhail’s wealthy childhood friend. He leads an idle life, succumbing to a string of striking women. Kira is exhausted by his noisy company. The lovers rent a dacha in the village of Zhavoronki, enjoying the quiet of the wintery Moscow region. Soon, the dacha’s owner suddenly demands that they vacate the house. Mikhail falls into a severe depression. He is a physicist; his lab has been closed, and there is no work. Kira finds a squalid, empty apartment on the outskirts of Moscow, in the Medvedkovo district.

Mikhail suggests they emigrate to Germany. A former colleague, Semyon, promises to help them find work. Kira agrees to save her husband. She discovers she’s pregnant but has a secret abortion, fearing she’ll become a burden. The exit permit is a blow to Kira’s parents. Mikhail pays Nina a huge sum in child support, borrowing the money from Zyablik.

In Germany, the truth comes to light. Semyon has suffered a stroke, is paralyzed, and lives in a nursing home. No one expects Mikhail to return to work. A period of difficult survival in Frankfurt begins. Kira cleans apartments for wealthy compatriots. Gradually, life improves. Mikhail finds a position at a research institute. The couple buys a small, cozy apartment and travels extensively. Kira feels completely happy.

Almost twenty years pass. Mikhail falls terminally ill. Doctors give him a few months to live. Kira calls Nina in Moscow, but she tells him Katya is away in the Caucasus. Mikhail dies. Later, Katya invites Kira to her Moscow apartment. It turns out Nina has gone to a monastery in Altai. Katya is raising her daughter Ksenia, who bears a striking resemblance to her grandfather. The relationship between stepmother and stepdaughter warms.

Kira stops by the aging Zyablik. Zyablov tells his tragic story. He had a son, Sergei, born out of wedlock. Sergei married but was in a car accident. His wife died, and Sergei was confined to a wheelchair. Zyablov donates all his money to his son’s treatment. Kira promises to help him find German doctors. She returns to Frankfurt, feeling she has found meaning in life.

I’m letting you go

Nika arrives in Venice with her married lover, Ilya. The affair lasts eight years. Nika has long since become accustomed to the role of the submissive, all-forgiving secret girlfriend. She had an abortion to save the relationship. In Venice, Ilya is constantly irritated. His legal wife, Tatyana, is in the hospital. Their son, Ivan, is rude to his grandmother, Violetta Leopoldovna, and skips school.

Winter Venice greets the couple with a drizzle. Ilya refuses to go for a walk, preferring to watch TV in his hotel room. Nika shows her character for the first time. She buys red rubber boots and a green raincoat and sets off to explore the city alone. She wanders through St. Mark’s Square, admiring the ancient architecture.

The relationship is collapsing. Ilya urgently flies to Moscow due to family problems. Nika is left alone. She takes a gondola ride along the Grand Canal. The boatman notices her discomfort and accurately determines that she is pregnant. Nika buys a test at the pharmacy. Her hunch is confirmed. That evening, Ilya calls. Nika answers calmly, realizing she no longer needs him. She is beginning a new, independent life.

Dark chocolate

Larisa Alexandrovna, known to her family as Lelya, owns a successful confectionery factory called "Zebra." Lelya is accustomed to facing challenges. She grew up fatherless, under the care of her weak mother and her wise grandfather, Semyon. Her grandfather was a Soviet businessman, an engraver at the Preobrazhensky Market. It was he who provided Lelya with her start-up capital.

Her husband, Viktor, is diagnosed with a serious illness. Lelya arranges treatment at a German clinic. Her school friend, Galochka, helps her in Frankfurt. Galochka emigrated with her mother long ago. Now she works as a nurse at the same hospital, living alone in a small apartment with her cat, Ryzhiy. Viktor’s surgery is a success.

Lelya urgently needs to fly to Moscow. The factory is experiencing serious problems with creditors. His daughter Katya, a student in Paris, refuses to come to see her ailing father. Galochka offers to take Viktor home with her while he recuperates. Lelya gratefully agrees and flies off to save the business.

Moscow is going through a rough patch. Clients are refusing to pay upfront. An influential official, Georgy Valerievich, promises help but soon leaves on a long business trip, disappointing Lyolya’s expectations. Katya calls hysterically — her French boyfriend, Gwendal, has dumped her. Lyolya drops everything, buys a ticket, and rushes to Paris. Her daughter greets her mother rudely, demands she leave her alone, and refuses to let her into the apartment.

That night, Lelya finds refuge in a tiny Parisian hotel. Exhausted, she flies to Frankfurt to join her husband. In the hospital ward, Lelya faces betrayal. Galochka is lovingly caring for Viktor. Her husband claims that Lelya abandoned him for business, and that the quiet Galochka showed him genuine concern. He refuses to return to his wife.

Lelya flees the hospital and buys a ticket to Moscow. At Sheremetyevo Airport, her grandfather’s former driver, Dima, calls out to her. He gives the exhausted Lelya a ride home. The next day, Dima arrives with medicine and groceries, makes chicken broth, and tenderly cares for the sick woman. Lelya realizes Dima has long been in love with her. On New Year’s Eve, her daughter Katya appears at the apartment door with a birthday cake.

The dearest, the closest

Alevtina writes a long letter to her school friend Sonya in St. Petersburg. Alya complains about her difficult life. She cares for her paralyzed mother. Her eldest daughter, Asya, lives in a cramped communal apartment with her indifferent husband, Denis, and their two children, Tema and Liza. Her youngest daughter, Lina, has grown up to be a selfish, sarcastic young woman. Lina despises her mother for her weak will.

Alya recalls her youth. There were three friends: timid Alya, bold red-haired Ganka, and calculating beauty Sonya. At graduation, the girls met some musicians. Ganka went to the dacha with the bass player. The musician turned out to be a drug addict. Ganka gave birth to a sick son, became addicted to drugs, and committed suicide. Alya blames herself for not adopting the boy. The child was given to an orphanage.

Alya’s personal life hasn’t worked out. Her first husband, Misha, emigrated to Germany, started a new family, and forgot about their daughter, Asya. Her second husband, Vasilyev, Lina’s father, also left. Alya feels lonely and aging. She dreams of a small house by the sea, where she can read books in silence on the terrace. Alya begs Sonya to come to Moscow, promising to rent her a hotel room.

The finale reveals Sonya’s life. Early one morning in a St. Petersburg apartment with antique furniture, Sonya wakes up next to her young lover. She tells him she’s taking him on vacation to Greece. Sonya is happy, free, and enjoying life, having ignored her friend’s desperate letter.

Three views on one circumstance

An elderly woman confesses to her adult daughter. She tells the truth about her marriage. In her youth, she fell madly in love with a lame but incredibly charming young man. The couple planned to marry. The girl became pregnant. To ensure a lavish wedding, the groom tried to profit from illegal currency sales. He was arrested and sent to Lefortovo Prison. The groom’s mother abandoned her son.

The pregnant woman’s parents persuaded her to marry quickly to hide the shame. The candidate was Sergei, a promising party worker from the city Komsomol committee. He married the woman to secure a two-room apartment. Two weeks after the wedding, the newlywed announced she was pregnant. The labor was artificially accelerated, the baby being passed off as premature. The husband suspected nothing.

The family lived comfortably. They had a company car, a departmental dacha, and special rations. Her husband was pursuing a career and caring for their child. However, his wife secretly hated him her whole life. She was irritated by his habits, his neatness, and his evening glass of kefir with a crouton. She felt like a traitor.

The child’s real father served a minimum sentence. A plain classmate, Nina Frolova, followed him to the prison colony. She secured a reduced sentence, married him, and moved to Saransk. She urges her daughter not to repeat her fatal mistake, to value genuine feelings, and never betray loved ones for the sake of material well-being.