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First Love begins as a gentle comedy: a young boy falls in love with Zinaida, the capricious daughter of a down-at-heel Princess. But when he discovers the identity of her lover, the mood turns to one of torment and despair. With a realism remarkable for its sensitivity and truthfulness, Turgenev describes the boy's growth of knowledge as he is awakened to the complex nature of adult love. Contrasted against the background of mid-nineteenth-century Russia and shadowed by a subtle evocation of more mature and tragic passion, First Love is one of Turgenev's most powerful stories.
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