Childhood, published in 1852, is the first novel in Leo Tolstoy's autobiographical trilogy, which also includes Boyhood, and Youth. Published when Tolstoy was twenty-three, the book gained immediate notice among Russian writers including Ivan Turgenev, and heralded the young Tolstoy as a major figure in Russian letters. Childhood is an expressionist exploration of the internal life of a young boy, Nikolenka, and was a new form in Russian writing, mixing fact, fiction and emotions to render the moods and reactions of the narrator.

在这部自传体小说里，作者回忆了自己童年的快乐和哀愁。这部小说以去莫斯科探望外祖母以及母亲去世为主线，描述了童年印象里的人物和印象深刻的事件。慈祥而严厉的家庭教师卡尔•伊万内奇、端庄而优雅的母亲、和蔼可亲的父亲、善良朴实的仆人、聪明可爱的玩伴、让人敬畏的外祖母使小主人公的童年充满了爱和欢乐，然而母亲的去世让他体会到了什么是真正的悲伤，也宣告他的童年彻底结束。