“I have said that my passion dated from that day; I might have added that my sufferings too dated from the same day…” Set in the world of nineteenth-century Russia's fading aristocracy, First Love describes a young man’s feelings as he awakens to the complex nature of adult love. When the Princess Zasyekin moves next door to the country estate of Vladimir Petrovich's parents, he instantly falls in love with his new neighbor's daughter, Zinaida. The capricious young woman has many admirers; and as she plays her suitors against each other, Vladimir's unrequited passion soon turns to torment and despair. IVAN TURGENEV (1818–1883) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright known for his honest portrayals of Russian serfs in the feudal system of the nineteenth century. Unlike his contemporaries Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, whose writings focused primarily on church and religion, Turgenev believed in the need for Russia to Westernize. He criticized the provincial society and political turbulence of his time through sophisticated and passionate prose. His novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century fiction. He also wrote such masterworks as The Diary of a Superfluous Man, First Love, Torrents of Spring, King Lear of the Steppes, Smoke, and A Sportsman’s Sketches.