Childhood. Adolescence. Youth

“When I wrote 'Childhood', it seemed to me that no one had ever felt and depicted the beauty and poetry of childhood as I did” - these words, spoken by L. N. Tolstoy fifty-six years after completing the autobiographical trilogy and two years before his death, show what exactly made this work precious to its extremely discerning author - and why it is so valued by contemporary readers of all ages.

The stories are accompanied by illustrations by Alexander Apsit, who conceived a cycle of drawings for 'Childhood. Adolescence. Youth' while Tolstoy was still alive.