Blending fact and fiction, this trilogy by a very young Tolstoy centres on the inner life of Nikolai as he navigates the universal challenge of growing up. In relating his thoughts and feelings, his self-awareness and embarrassing mistakes, the work is timeless: regardless of era, location and environment, we are given an unvarnished portrait of one boy – both self-important and self-deprecating – as he tries to find his place in the world. The sense of nostalgia, with its strange blend of sadness and solace, is tangible as the years pass and the child becomes a young man. In his old age Tolstoy dismissed this first substantial work of fiction from his early twenties, yet it continues to absorb and touch its readers, who find that his deep understanding of the human condition was already in evidence here.