About desires and fears in times of transition. Why hold on to ideals and values? Isn’t it all false romance - so let it go! Basarow, a medical student from Petersburg, is a nihilist and as such part of a radical youth movement. When he accompanies his friend Arkadi on his journey home to his father’s estate, he falls in love with the young widow Anna - which existentially shakes him. Should the old world perhaps claim a certain truth for itself? To find this out, Basarow sees only one reasonable path: first confrontation, then collision. Thanks to Ganna-Maria Braungardt’s poetically precise new translation, Turgenev’s groundbreaking novel shines in full splendor. Extensive appendix with a list of characters, afterword, biographical note, annotations, and a letter from the translator to the author.