A. Plochovo

Sumsky, or Something Like a True Story

A. Plochovo, Sumskij, or Something Resembling a True Story. Moscow, Gautier and Monighetti Printing House, 1848.

A compelling narrative set amid St Petersburg life in the first half of the nineteenth century. Against the backdrop of the majestic Northern Capital, with its stately embankments, quiet courtyards, society balls, and literary salons, human destinies, deep emotions, and at times dramatic relationships become intertwined.

She recreates with fine sensitivity the moral climate of an era in which honour, dignity, and sincerity confront social convention. St Petersburg is not merely the setting but a living part of the narrative, capable of shaping the characters' states of mind and destinies.

Printed during the years of late Romanticism and early Russian Realism, the volume belongs to a period in publishing often marked by limited print runs whose books are now difficult to find.