Smoke

In Smoke, Ivan Turgenev follows Grigori Litvinov, a young Russian returning from agricultural studies in Germany to marry his fiancée and restore his family’s neglected estate. But a chance encounter with his former love, the aristocratic Irina, rekindles a powerful passion and upends his plans.

Set against the Russian expatriate world of Baden-Baden, Smoke is both a compelling love story and a sharp satire of a society divided between reactionaries and revolutionaries. When it was published in 1867, the novel sparked controversy for its provocative portrait of Russia, its politics, and its exiles. Turgenev’s graceful, psychologically astute novel explores desire, disillusionment, and a country struggling to understand itself.