A collection of essays by the grea-grandniece of Leo Tolstoy offers reflections on Russian politics, culture, and literature, discussing such widely diverse topics as Soviet women, Russian cookery, and the influence of Pushkin and freedom on Russian authors. Original.

A New York Review Books Original

"Tolstaya carves indelible people who roam the imagination long after the book is put down." -Time

Tatyana Tolstaya's short stories--with their unpredictable fairy-tale plots, appealingly eccentric characters, and stylistic abundance and flair--established her in the 1980s as one of modern Russia's finest writers. Since then her work has been translated throughout the world. Edna O'Brien has called Tolstaya "an enchantress." Anita Desai has spoken of her work's "richness and ardent life." Mixing heartbreak and humor, dizzying...

This book contains the Russian text of Turgenev's First Love, with an English language introduction and notes.