Cover of Childhood

Childhood

by Leo Tolstoy

First published
1852
Reading level
Plain English
Price
Free

About the book

"Childhood" by graf Leo Tolstoy is a novel published in 1852. It marks Tolstoy's debut at age twenty-three and launched his literary career, earning immediate acclaim from established Russian writers. The first in a trilogy followed by "Boyhood" and "Youth," it explores the inner world of young Nikolenka through an innovative expressionistic style that blends fact, fiction, and emotion. This groundbreaking work captures childhood's fleeting innocence, joy, and intense capacity for love through the narrator's moods and reactions.

  • Autobiographical fiction
  • Russia
  • Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910

Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #2142. Childhood on Wikipedia.

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