15 h 11 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a mother who lives in fear begins to listen to forbidden ideas?
In a factory settlement in Tsarist Russia, Pelageya Nilovna Vlasova knows work, prayer and silence. A poor widow, she wants only to protect her son. But Pavel reads forbidden books and brings friends into their home. Their quiet evenings of reading, talk and song open a world she both fears and wants to understand.
Maxim Gorky's Mother follows Pelageya as concern for Pavel draws her toward the workers around him. Andrei Onisimov offers kindness; Nikolai Ivanovich brings books and patient guidance. As workers begin to organise and factory management cuts their wages, she faces a growing question: can she protect her son without listening to what he stands for?
What you’ll discover
- A mother finding words Stay close to Pelageya's thoughts as fear slowly gives way to understanding and action.
- Life beneath the whistle Enter a factory settlement where the daily rhythm of work shapes lives and limits choices.
- Forbidden books, quiet gatherings Watch Pavel's home become a meeting place for readers who seek dignity for working people.
- Kindness within the struggle Meet friends whose warmth and patience help Pelageya look beyond her fear for her son.
- Love beyond one family Explore how a mother's care can widen into concern for others facing the same injustice.
Who will love it
For readers who love social novels, Russian history, and stories of ordinary people who change. It also suits anyone curious about how political movements begin, and how a mother's love grows into courage.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A settlement ruled by the factory whistle
- Pavel starts to read and to question
- Strange friends fill the little house
- The mother learns from the town's teachers
- The swamp kopeck and the first stand
- The red banner on May Day
- The mother takes up her son's work
- Faith, fear and the voice of a mother
- How Gorky tells it, and what it left behind
Who’s who
- Pelageya Nilovna VlasovaA beaten and frightened widow, she wants only to protect her son, and slowly learns to act for others as well.
- Pavel VlasovHer son, a young factory worker who reads forbidden books and wants to lead his fellow workers toward a more dignified life.
- Andrei OnisimovA warm, humorous Ukrainian worker and Pavel's closest friend, who treats the mother with kindness and helps her understand the cause.
- Nikolai IvanovichA patient educated organiser from the town who brings books and guidance to the workers and befriends the mother.
- SofyaNikolai's lively sister, who works for the cause and becomes a close friend and guide to Pelageya.
- SashaA young woman from a comfortable family who loves Pavel and gives herself wholly to the workers' movement.
- RybinA stern, thoughtful peasant with deep anger at injustice, who finds his own path to the cause.
- Mikhail VlasovPavel's father, a bitter and violent locksmith whose brutality shows the old life from which his son turns away.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Mother
by Maxim Gorky · 1906
In a Russian factory settlement, a frightened widow's son brings forbidden books home, and she begins to find her voice.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
A settlement ruled by the factory whistle
The novel opens in a workers' settlement beside a large factory. Every morning the whistle sounds, and the men go in, grey and silent. Every evening it sounds again, and they come out covered in soot. The workers then drink, fight, and go to bed. Gorky describes a place where the factory owns the hours of every life.
In this world lives Mikhail Vlasov, a locksmith, a heavy and bitter man. He comes home angry and takes out his anger on his wife Pelageya and on their son Pavel. Pelageya has learned to be small. She cooks, she keeps out of his way, and she prays. She does not expect her life to change, because she has never seen anyone's life change.
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What is the book Mother by Maxim Gorky about?
It follows Pelageya Vlasova, a poor Russian factory widow, as her son Pavel joins the revolutionary movement. She moves from fear and silence to active support of the workers' cause, and finds new courage and purpose.
Is Mother by Gorky based on a true story?
It is fiction, but it draws on real events, especially the May Day demonstration of 1902 in Sormovo near Nizhny Novgorod. It was written in 1906 and 1907, after the failed revolution of 1905.
Who is Pavel Vlasov in Mother?
Pavel is Pelageya's son, a young factory worker who starts reading banned books, gathers a circle of comrades, and becomes a leader among the workers. His choices set his mother on her own path.
The author
Maxim Gorky
1868–1936 · Russian and Soviet novelist
Maksim Gorky (1868–1936) was a Russian and Soviet writer born in Nizhny Novgorod. His real name was Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov. He wrote novels, stories and plays, including The Lower Depths (1902) and Mother (1906). He lived in Russia and Italy and died near Moscow.
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