White Nights and Other Stories

A dreamer. A girl. Four white nights. And the most heartbreaking line in Russian literature: “My God, a whole minute of bliss—is that really not enough for a man's whole life?”

Fyodor Dostoevsky's early masterpiece is a short, perfect jewel of loneliness and longing, a story about the man who lives in his imagination and the woman who reminds him, briefly, that the real world exists.

The narrator of "White Nights" is a young man in St. Petersburg who has no friends, no family, no life. He walks the city at night, talking to the buildings. He has invented an entire world for himself because the real one has rejected him. Then he meets Nastenka, a young woman waiting by a canal for her lover to return. For four nights, they talk. He tells her his life. She tells him hers. He falls in love. She almost falls in love with him. Then her lover returns. She runs to him. And the dreamer is left alone, on the bridge, in the white night, with a letter of thanks and a lifetime of memory.

This is Dostoevsky at his most lyrical and tender: a story about the beauty of brief connection, the pain of unrequited love, and the strange grace of being grateful for even a single minute of happiness. This volume also includes other early stories: "The Christmas Tree and the Wedding," "The Peasant Marey," and more.

• "White Nights" was first published in 1848, before Dostoevsky's arrest and imprisonment

• One of Dostoevsky's most accessible and beloved works, frequently adapted for film and stage

• Explores themes of loneliness, imagination, and the difference between loving a person and loving the idea of a person

Available in multiple formats:

• Paperback & Hardcover: Beautifully designed print editions presenting the complete, unabridged text made to last.

• Ebook: DRM-free EPUB compatible with Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and all major e-readers.

• Audiobook: Professionally narrated, complete and unabridged, available on all major audiobook platforms.

A beautifully crafted edition for your shelf, your device, or your ears—or the perfect gift for anyone who knows that one minute of bliss is worth a lifetime of ordinary days.

About the Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and journalist, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in world literature. Born in Moscow, the second of seven children, he was the son of a military doctor who was murdered by his own serfs. Dostoevsky studied engineering but turned to writing. White Nights was written early in his career, before his arrest, mock execution, and imprisonment in Siberia. It reflects a lighter, more romantic side of Dostoevsky—the side that would be buried by his later experiences of suffering and political exile. The story is set in St. Petersburg during the season of the "white nights," when the sun barely sets and the sky remains luminous through the night. It has inspired numerous film adaptations, including a 1957 Italian film starring Marcello Mastroianni and a 2019 Indian Bengali film. His other major works include Notes from Underground (1864), Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot(1869), Demons (1872), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). He died of a pulmonary hemorrhage in 1881 and is buried in the Tikhvin Cemetery in St. Petersburg.