Liudmila Maksimova is a Russian poet and prose writer, the author of collections of stories, “How can one be warm alone?” and “With love, mother”, that have gained unconditional acceptance of Russian-speaking readership. I extend my sincere thanks to my numerous readers for their nice comments on my books “How can one be warm alone?” and “With love, mother”, published by the “Raduga” Publishing House, St. Petersburg, some of which appear below. Brought forward to English-speaking readers are eight stories from previous collections of stories, that have been translated into English by my friend Ghenadii Lahman. I hope English-speaking readers will also find something after their own heart in these stories and gain new insight into mysterious Russian soul. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my respected Dutch friend Ben de Boer for making the publishing of this book possible.