Summary

At the age of fifteen, Manya finishes her schooling at the gymnasium with one year left to go. Her best friend is Kazia, a cheerful Polish girl. They attend a school that houses Poles, Russians and Germans alike. The politics of the day threaten the peace of Manya's teenage years. At one point, she and Kazia help comfort a fellow schoolmate whose brother is about to be hanged for taking part in an assassination plot. Still, Manya graduates with a "gold medal" or highest marks in the gymnasium. Her father grants her a year off from school before she decides her future vocation, and Manya spends time in the country being idle "for the first and last time in her life". She attends a kulig, or ball, and writes to her friend Kazia about how she danced the...