A sequel to Rudin, this novel is about Russian society, idealism, innocence and disillusionment. It is set amidst the green fields owned by bourgeois Russians and pivots around the character of Lisa, a smart and accomplished young woman who represents the traditional, dutiful, innocent and modest Russian girlhood from that era.

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches (1852), was a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons (1862) is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century fiction.