Between these two worlds Serezha must divide his time - an his loyalties. With the unblinking clarity of a child often too honest for his own and other's comfort, he describes everybody as they impress his awakening consciousness, from the kindly uncles who tease him unmercifully to the millionaire who cares more for his English pigs than for his serfs. The book is inspired by a lyrical delight in nature and country pursuits, but it is not an idyll. Bitter homesickness, physical terrors, the horror provoked by arbitrary death - such experiences are recorded graphically, with a painful candour resembling at times Tolstoy's.This volume forms the second part of Aksakov's autobiographical trilogy, but it may br read independently, as a classic of its kind in a literature which excels in the genre of childhood reminiscence.