The Bet (1889) is one of Chekhov’s most celebrated and frequently anthologized stories. A banker wagers that a lawyer cannot endure fifteen years of voluntary imprisonment — and the unexpected conclusion upends every assumption both men, and the reader, have made. It is a perfectly constructed Chekhovian puzzle about what makes a life worth living.
The accompanying stories in this collection display the same precise craftsmanship and moral intelligence. Download the free EPUB and enjoy an afternoon with one of literature’s finest short-story writers.