Ivan Ilyich is a respected judge who has built himself a comfortable, honourable and well-ordered life. One day, after an ordinary fall, a strange pain appears in his side, and never leaves him. Little by little he realises that his illness is serious, and that his family would rather pretend to see nothing.
Facing death, he wonders whether he has really lived. This short story by Tolstoy has lost none of its force: it asks the question everyone ends up asking, about what really matters.
Written in a simple, direct style, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.
