Surely one of the great neglected masterpieces of 19th century Russian literature. This and its companion volumes in the author's Family Chronicle trilogy are a truly remarkable account of life in provincial Russia in the early part of that century, seen through the eyes of a child but filtered through the consciousness of the adult Aksakov writing it down half a century later. Both passionate and perceptive, with wit and irony, he re-creates through the life of the growing child the world of the small rural gentry and peasantry in both its detail and its overall culture in a way that allows the reader to feel what it was like to be there at that time living that life. ( )