“…It is a book of the utmost important,” said Lenin about the novel. “Many workers who have joined the revolutionary movement impulsively, without properly understanding why, will benefit from reading Mother. It is a very timely book.”

Few works of fiction in the whole history of world literature had such a vast readership and exercised such a great influence on the fates of millions of people as this book by Maxim Gorky. Written during the first Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, it has lost none of its impact to this day and remains among the most popular novels with the readers of many countries, a “textbook of life” as it were.