Elena Gan entered the history of Russian literature as a talented author of society tales. In the 1830s and 1840s her novellas enjoyed great popularity, but by the end of the nineteenth century they began to be forgotten. After 1905 her works were no longer republished, and not until the 1970s and 1980s was there a resurgence of interest in the work of early nineteenth-century authors, including the stories by Gan.

Elena Andreevna Fadeeva was born to an old noble family in Rzhishchev, not far from Kiev, on 11 January 1814. Her mother, Elena Pavlovna Fadeeva, née Dolgorukaia, came from a famous family of princes and was raised in Rzhishchev by her maternal grandmother, Elena Bandre-du-Plessy, who, together with her friend and neighbor Countess Dzialynskaia, instilled in Elena Pavlovna an interest in archaeology, botany, and history along with a desire to attain knowledge independently. Elena Pavlovna had an extensive...