WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DOLL HOUSE January 1842.[1]   Winter skidded and covered all the fields and roads with snow. The garden became impassable. The trees stood shaggy, drooping with snow hanging on their branches. The surrounding farmsteads had nestled into the loose snow, and had it not been for their disheveled, bare gardens and the bluish haze in the mornings, the distant villages would have been impossible to distinguish. The windows and doors were caulked, and bright fire crackled... Read more

THE TRIP TO DIKANKA September 1841   Time passed so quickly between studies and pranks that the girls did not even notice that the end of summer had arrived. The oak groves were full of color, the mountain ash and viburnum were turning red, and the pears and apples in the orchards had already been harvested. The Autumn of 1841 was heavenly. Though cold, the bright sun cheerfully illumined the groves and clean-shaven fields where long threads of shiny cobwebs... Read more

VARENIKI Summer 1841   Two days later they were playing in the garden when the hostess, their Little Ukrainian, came up to them, asking them to come to her house and try the delicious cherry vareniki she cooked for the sake of “God’s holiday.” (It was Sunday.) “Vareniki? Ah! What a pity that we can’t!” exclaimed Vera with deep regret. Owing to Vera’s recent illness, and Lelya’s stomachache, the girls were strictly forbidden to eat cherries. Letting them go into... Read more

THE GRAY MONK Summer 1841 One day, not long after their arrival, Vera went to bed very early with a headache. She woke suddenly in the middle of the night, that is, she thought it was the middle of the night, it may have been evening because the cheerful voices of Helena Andreevna and Antonia were heard from the next room, which, for some reason, scared Vera tremendously. It seemed to her as though something terrible had occurred, and she... Read more

CAMP Summer 1841   The horses were now rested and prepared to make the final leg of the journey. Without waiting for any help, they pulled the party up the mountain in half an hour. The coachman spoke the truth. At the top of the mountain fields and forests stretched out before them, and among the greenery of the nearest grove, in a beautiful clearing, the white tents of Colonel Hahn’s battery were pitched. Several officers ran towards them, winded... Read more

ROAD Spring 1841   With the approach of spring, Helena Andreevna began to say that it was time for them to get ready for the journey. She felt sorry for her husband, who missed his family dearly. Colonel Hahn wrote that his battery had been moved to a good place in Little Rossiya, where it is warm. He said it would be a good place for Helena Andreevna to live and begged her to return in the spring. Despite Baba... Read more

REASONING April 1841   On the occasion of the holidays, lessons had not yet begun. The girls sat upstairs in their classroom, near Baba Lena’s office, where the door was open. They were inspecting all the pretty little things Gorov had given them the day before. “Lelya,” asked Vera, “why did Gorov say that he didn’t dare ask for Dede Andrushka when he called us all to the Christmas tree?” “What don’t you understand?” Lelya replied. “A simple merchant would... Read more

YOLKA January 1841   Vera was left speechless with amazed delight when, after sitting alone upstairs in the nursery all day, she saw it from afar, from the corridor, in the middle of the hall all flooded with light! The Christmas tree was beautiful, richly adorned with all sorts of sweets, and decorated with garlands of greenery and flowers (skillfully made by Baba Lena from colored paper and calico.) It was a new tradition introduced to Russia by the Tsarina... Read more

THEATRES AND BALLS November 1840   With winter came short days and frosty nights. Endless evenings by the stoves that enlivened their children’s games and conversations with the cheerful heat and crackling birch firewood. There were sleigh rides on the frozen Volga and endless laughter between lessons in the morning when they were allowed to have snowball fights and ride in a sled around the yard. The grownups no longer participated in these noisy games. There was no greater fun,... Read more