The Stone Soul

The “Non-Canonical Canon” series is a way to talk about all those writers we never truly knew — whose texts we read without understanding the reality and context in which they were created. The series brings together a wide range of Ukrainian authors and works, each accompanied by reading guides from Ukrainian literary scholars.

Hnat Khotkevych was a bandurist, ethnographer, theater figure, composer and translator — a Kharkiv-born artist with a profound sensitivity to Hutsul culture.

At the center of one of his best-known works is Marusia, a young orphan who marries a priest and moves to Kryvorivnia after he receives a parish there. She quickly wins the affection of the Hutsul community, yet finds no happiness in her dull marriage. Her heart is captured by Dmytro Marusiak, the charismatic leader of an outlaw band. But will she truly find the love she longs for with him? Or will the outlaw’s dangerous temperament stand in the way?

The Stone Soul is an atmospheric, passionate and psychologically intense novella filled with complex characters and extraordinary depictions of life in the mountains.