Love and Youth by Ivan Turgenev

From the most romantic of the Russian greats, an enthralling selection of short stories and novellas

An icon of Russian literature, Turgenev was able to contain the narrative sweep of a novel in a single short story. His protagonists experience the joy and painful turbulence of first love, the thrilling adventures of youth, and the layered reflections of maturity. His great skill is to make his readers feel alongside these characters, rendering their complex interiorities, whether nobility or serf, in these stories charged with a profound social conscience.

This collection, in a lyrical new translation by Nicolas Slater, places Turgenev's great novella First Love alongside a selection of his classic stories. From the evocative rural scenes of 'Bezhin Meadow' and 'Rattling Wheels', to the pathos and humanity of 'The District Doctor' and 'Biryuk', these are stories to be lingered over.

Ivan Turgenev was born to an aristocratic family in 1818. In 1852, he wrote an obituary for Gogol for the Saint Petersburg Gazette. Banned by the censor in Saint Petersburg, it was nevertheless published in Moscow, leading to Turgenev being briefly imprisoned then exiled for two years on his country estate.

Turgenev lived for much of his life in Western Europe, where he became friends with writers such as Gustave Flaubert. His most famous novel Fathers and Sons was poorly received by many Russian critics. It is now regarded as one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century.