We never make mistakes

The two quietly powerful short novels here, "An incident at Krechetovka station" and "Matryona´s House", further confirm Solzhenitsyn´s place in the tradition of the great russian novelists. The first concern a Red Army lieutenant confronted at his World War II rail junction command with a disturbing army straggler and decision about what to do with him. The second is the tale of an old peasant woman, hunger, and greedy relatives is depicted by a young man who, after her death, finally understands who she was.