The second volume of the collected works contains Vladimir Nabokov's early novels originally published in Russian: "Lushin's Defense" (1929/1930), "The Spy" (1930), and "The Trial of Strength" (1931/1932). "Lushin's Defense" tells the life story of a man who has succumbed to a great obsession - chess. The text is considered a stroke of genius by the young author. "The Spy" superficially presents itself as an unhappy love story. This short novel is an example of masterful psychological crime writing. The coming-of-age novel "The Trial of Strength" nostalgically recalls Nabokov's Russian homeland. Its main character, Martin Edelweiss, is a rootless emigrant, ambitious yet aimless, living a life without a plan. In Berlin, the fate of all the protagonists of these three novels unfolds. In Berlin, Vladimir Nabokov became a Russian from 1922 to 1937.