Ordinary Wonders: Stories of Unexpected Grace by Olesia Nikolaeva

The Deceitful Onion Bulb. A Blessing to Smuggle. The Conjuror of Rain. In this collection of stories as whimsical as their titles, award-winning author Olesia Nikolaeva poignantly recounts life for Christian believers in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. In a manner reminiscent of the bestselling Everyday Saints these tales reveal a common theme – the subtle, sometimes imperceptible movement of Divine Providence at work in the lives of saints and sinners alike. Her writings bring us to what the ancient Celts called “thin places” where the boundaries of heaven and earth meet and the sacred and the secular can no longer be distinguished.

About the Author: Olesia Nikolaeva is an award-winning author, poet, and essayist. She has been writing since her early youth and was first published at the age of seventeen. Bishop Tikhon (Shevkhunov), author of the 2011 bestseller Everyday Saints, called her “a trailblazer in Russian Orthodox prose.”

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Pages vii – 17 In Liew of an Introduction The Conjuror of Rain The New Nicodemus Confusion Two or Three Days Flowers for the Shroud Monk Leonid
Pages 17-35 Another Source How I Battled the Gypsies Non-Komsomol Gingerbread At Blessed Xenia’s The Hunger Striker “A Little Piece of Wood”
Pages 35-52 The Gypsy Martyr Tryphon Criss-Cross The Queens’s Pendants Embrace
Pages 52-71 About Love “You Do Not Know What You Ask” (Mk 10:38) Wishes Come True
Pages 71-89 More Than Enough or Nothing Extra Come and See Bring Back my Husband
Pages 89-107 The Apple of My Eye The Thrill Seeker An Experiment Quid Pro Quo
Pages 107-124 Temptation Confession to the Prison Guard One Wave after the Other The Sound of Trumpets
Pages 125-137 Our “Boys” and “the Germans” Five Months of Love Mysteries Beyond the Grave
Pages 137-156 Augustine The Lord Gave and the Lord Took Away
Pages 156-172 Halvah The Deceitful Onion Bulb How I Lost My Voice Money for Sabaoth Kalliping
Pages 173-189 Good Material for a Television Series A Blessing to Smuggle
Pages 189-206 Payback The Delusional One How the Vatican Shod Our Bishops
Pages 206-226 The Little Cloud Sokratis The Late Husband of Mother Seraphima
Pages 227-245 The Angel Heavenly Fire Corfu (Part 1)
Pages 245-263 Corfu (Part 2)
Pages 263-280 Corfu (Part 3)
Pages 280-293 Corfu (conclusion)

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