Natal'ia Baranskaia's life prepared her for the role she played in the history of twentieth-century Russian literature: documenting both the quotidian and national tragedy from a woman's viewpoint. A well-educated working mother who raised two children on her own, she knows firsthand the burdens faced by female members of the Russian intelligentsia. Personal experiences and those of her generation reinforced Baranskaia's belief that compassion and responsibility are moral imperatives.

Baranskaia was born Natal'ia Vladimirovna Radchenko on 18 December 1908 in St. Petersburg to Liubov' Nikolaevna Radchenko and Vladimir Nikolaevich Rozanov. Both parents, who never married, were involved in revolutionary activity. In 1906 they were elected to the Central Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party (Mensheviks) at the Fourth Congress of the party. In 1910 they were arrested and, upon their release, immigrated first to Switzerland and then to Germany. In 1915 the seven-year-old Rozanova returned to Russia with Liubov' Nikolaevna, while Vladimir...