
In the bleak winter of a remote country house, a seventeen‑year‑old Katia is swallowed by grief after her mother’s death. Alongside her younger sister Sonia and their steadfast governess Macha, she drifts through endless days of snow‑capped windows, silence, and a lingering sense of loss that makes even the piano and books feel pointless. The house itself seems to echo the mourning, its rooms cold and shadowed, while Katia wrestles with a growing emptiness and a yearning for any sign of life beyond the walls.
As March approaches, the promise of a visitor—Sergius Mikaïlovitch, a family friend once beloved by her father—brings the first stir of hope. His arrival could mean the release from isolation and the chance to step into a world her mother had planned for her. Katia’s restless spirit begins to awaken, caught between lingering sorrow and the tentative promise of a future she has yet to imagine.
Language
en
Duration
~3 hours (219K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by sp1nd, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2013-11-23
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1828–1910
One of the great giants of world literature, he combined sweeping storytelling with deep questions about love, family, faith, and how to live. His novels still feel vivid because they pay such close attention to ordinary human thoughts and choices.
View all books