English description: Maxim Gorky, one of Russia's greatest writers, recounts the formative years of his childhood.
Orphaned at an early age and raised in a harsh environment marked by poverty and family violence, young Alexei confronts the cruelty of the adult world and the difficult realities of popular Russia. Through hardship and discovery, a sharp and rebellious consciousness gradually emerges.
In this autobiographical narrative, both tender and unsparing, Gorky reveals the misery of the lower classes, domestic violence, and the harshness of a rigid social order. At the same time, he traces the awakening of a powerful sensitivity and an insatiable longing for freedom and justice.
More than a memoir, this work is a vivid portrait of imperial Russia and one of the most compelling autobiographical classics of Russian literature.