The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov

“And he judged of others by himself, not believing in what he saw, and always believing that every man had his real, most interesting life under the cover of secrecy and under the cover of night. All personal life rested on secrecy, and possibly it was partly on that account that civilised man was so nervously anxious that personal privacy should be respected.” 

The Lady with the Dog initially presents as a simple holiday affair, but beneath that, it unearths the ache of living a life that no longer quite fits. Chekhov conceives no grand declarations, only the quiet understanding that something real and persistent has taken root. Love here is inconvenient and complicated, but it also feels like the first honest thing either of them has experienced in a long time.