Sanin is an ardent, 22-year-old Russian nobleman. Travelling through Europe, he is captivated by Gemma, the demurely flirtatious daughter of an Italian sweet-maker whose family keep a shop in Frankfurt; she manoeuvres him into discovering he is in love with her. But Sanin needs money to marry and so leaves Frankfurt to sell his estate to the rich and beautiful wife of an old acquaintance. He knows that this sale will condemn his serfs to the long-term vassal-hood he had aspired, one day, to free them from, and Fortune punishes him harshly for his abandonment of principle; inveigled into an affair with the very woman whom he had hoped would finance his marriage, Sanin’s hopes and longings end in sterility. This novel captures superbly the wonder of first love and sexual arousal; Sani