On the Eve

Set in Russia in the summer of 1853, this short novel follows Elena Stakhova, a restless young woman surrounded by suitors who cannot satisfy her longing for a life of real meaning. She finds that meaning in Dmitri Insarov, a Bulgarian student consumed by a single cause: freeing his country from Ottoman rule. Their love pulls Elena away from her family and toward a fate she chooses with open eyes. Turgenev uses the doomed romance to ask what Russia lacked, a man ready to act rather than talk, and the book stirred fierce debate when it appeared. Quiet, melancholy, and morally serious, it remains one of his most moving portraits of conviction. This free PDF and EPUB edition offers Constance Garnett’s classic English translation.