--- product_id: 389377657 title: "PENGUIN Home of the Gentry" price: "€ 57.46" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 5 url: https://www.desertcart.sk/products/389377657-penguin-home-of-the-gentry store_origin: SK region: Slovakia --- # 4.7/5 star reader acclaim Classic Russian literature gem Published 2007, timeless narrative PENGUIN Home of the Gentry **Price:** € 57.46 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 📖 Rediscover the soul of Russian classics—because your bookshelf deserves a timeless conversation starter. ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** PENGUIN Home of the Gentry - **How much does it cost?** € 57.46 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.sk](https://www.desertcart.sk/products/389377657-penguin-home-of-the-gentry) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Cultural Insight:** A vivid portrayal of 19th-century Russian society grappling with European influences—perfect for the globally minded professional. - • **Elegant Paperback:** Lightweight, portable edition ideal for reading on commutes or cozy office breaks. - • **Critically Acclaimed:** Ranked top 150 in Russian & Soviet Literature with a stellar 4.7-star rating, a must-have for discerning book collectors. - • **Flawless Translation:** Richard Freeborn’s clear, culturally sensitive English version removes barriers, making this classic accessible and engaging. - • **Masterful Storytelling:** Turgenev’s nuanced exploration of love, loss, and identity resonates deeply with modern readers seeking literary depth. ## Overview PENGUIN Home of the Gentry is a 2007 Penguin Classics paperback edition of Ivan Turgenev’s profound novel exploring themes of love, loss, and cultural identity in 19th-century Russia. Featuring a highly praised English translation by Richard Freeborn, this edition offers accessible, elegant prose that captures the subtle emotional landscape of the original. With a 4.7-star rating and strong literary rankings, it’s an essential addition for professionals who value classic literature with enduring relevance. ## Description On one level the novel is about the homecoming of Lavretsky, who, broken and disillusioned by a failed marriage, returns to his estate and finds love again - only to lose it. The sense of loss and of unfulfilled promise, beautifully captured by Turgenev, reflects his underlying theme that humanity is not destined to experience happiness except as something ephemeral and inevitably doomed. On another level Turgenev is presenting the homecoming of a whole generation of young Russians who have fallen under the spell of European ideas that have uprooted them from Russia, their 'home', but have proved ultimately superfluous. In tragic bewilderment, they attempt to find reconciliation with their land. Review: A master storyteller - Beware of the back cover blurb, which gives away the whole plot. Many will say that the tone makes the ending inevitable anyway, but I'd still rather encounter it at the pace Turgenev intended than summarized in thirty-seven words by an uncaring publisher. The story is a low-key drama where small lives experience huge tragedy. Richard Freeborn draws attention to the similarity with English-language novels of the 19th century, but compares the quiet, closely domestic, and introspective flavour of Turgenev with the busier and more expansive feel this story would have in the hands of George Eliot, Dickens, etc. Turgenev can evoke a scene or a person perfectly with just a few lines, and even his digressions into characters' backstories (sometimes going back several generations) are entertaining and add to our appreciation of what's happening. One of the things I particularly liked was the quality of Freeborn's translation. Many Russian classics can be hard to read in English because the translation is over-literal, leaving mystifying elliptical phrases in character's mouths -- "So... that is, I... yes..." or whatever. Freeborn recognizes that we don't have the cultural familiarity to interpret those, so he keeps his version clear of such stumbling blocks. A possible error on the author's part -- at least, it confused me -- was when Lenochka says at the end that there are five of them in the garden, just right to play a game. By my count there's Lenochka herself, her fiancé the hussar, her brother, her brother's wife, her brother's wife's sixteen-year-old sister, and Shurochka. Does Shurochka's status exclude her from their games? She's larking about with the other young people when Lavretsky arrives at the door, and their household doesn't seem to stand on ceremony. (In fact that scene is startlingly modern. However manners change, early twentysomethings are the same throughout history.) Review: Home of the gentry - Brilliante Novelle und "first class English" translation aus dem Russischen. ## Features - Penguin classics - Binding: paperback - Language: english - Manufacturer: Penguin classics - Brand: Penguin classics - Publication date: 2007-12-06T00:00:01Z - Manufacturer: Penguin Classics - Brand: Penguin Classics ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #174,553 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #134 in Russian & Soviet Literature #439 in Literary Criticism & Theory #1,605 in U.S. Literature | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 39 Reviews | ## Images ![PENGUIN Home of the Gentry - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71mQ7Q7NPiL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A master storyteller *by D***S on 18 October 2024* Beware of the back cover blurb, which gives away the whole plot. Many will say that the tone makes the ending inevitable anyway, but I'd still rather encounter it at the pace Turgenev intended than summarized in thirty-seven words by an uncaring publisher. The story is a low-key drama where small lives experience huge tragedy. Richard Freeborn draws attention to the similarity with English-language novels of the 19th century, but compares the quiet, closely domestic, and introspective flavour of Turgenev with the busier and more expansive feel this story would have in the hands of George Eliot, Dickens, etc. Turgenev can evoke a scene or a person perfectly with just a few lines, and even his digressions into characters' backstories (sometimes going back several generations) are entertaining and add to our appreciation of what's happening. One of the things I particularly liked was the quality of Freeborn's translation. Many Russian classics can be hard to read in English because the translation is over-literal, leaving mystifying elliptical phrases in character's mouths -- "So... that is, I... yes..." or whatever. Freeborn recognizes that we don't have the cultural familiarity to interpret those, so he keeps his version clear of such stumbling blocks. A possible error on the author's part -- at least, it confused me -- was when Lenochka says at the end that there are five of them in the garden, just right to play a game. By my count there's Lenochka herself, her fiancé the hussar, her brother, her brother's wife, her brother's wife's sixteen-year-old sister, and Shurochka. Does Shurochka's status exclude her from their games? She's larking about with the other young people when Lavretsky arrives at the door, and their household doesn't seem to stand on ceremony. (In fact that scene is startlingly modern. However manners change, early twentysomethings are the same throughout history.) ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Home of the gentry *by K***R on 2 December 2022* Brilliante Novelle und "first class English" translation aus dem Russischen. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Remembrance of things gone *by G***Z on 21 July 2009* Already in his thirties, Lavretsky returns to his hometown of O... in Russia. He descends form a strange family of landed gentry. At some point in the book his biography is revealed, a life of reclusion, loneliness, and disappointment. Very Russian. Lavretsky returns a defeated man, for his wife has cheated on him in every corner, has taken lots of money from him, and disgraced him through half Europe. And everybody knows. After dismissing her, he travels to Italy, in order to get himself together, and he decides that his mission is Voltaire-like, to go back to Russia and "tender his own garden". He decides not to go back to the old estate where he had suffered so much, but to a smaller house where a wicked old aunt had died. Trying to recover some social links, he visits a distant relative, Maria Dimitrevna Kalitin, a widow with two young daughters. I won't spoil the rest, but what follows is a tale of mishap, love, suffering, unwelcome surprises. The epilogue is masterful, an ode to memory, to the passage of time, and to bodily-felt homesickness. Traditional, serene, and making no concessions, this novel is part of the work that makes Turgenev deserve his place up above with Tolstoi and Dostoevsky, in his own style. Russian to the bone, but without paranoid delirium or epic ambitions, it is a perfect novel. I would like to read it again when I am old, sitting on a bench of a park, in autumn. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.sk/products/389377657-penguin-home-of-the-gentry](https://www.desertcart.sk/products/389377657-penguin-home-of-the-gentry) --- *Product available on Desertcart Slovakia* *Store origin: SK* *Last updated: 2026-08-28*