About the book: 2017 / This book examines the life of the Russian metropolitan nobility of the early 19th century, unique due to conventions and unspoken codes accepted in society, emotions , some of which were appropriate to demonstrate, and some of which should be suppressed. The book, whose heroes lived in an era later called the golden age of Russian culture, is replete with examples from biographies, memoirs, letters, fiction and can serve as an accessible introduction to the history of everyday life of the Russian nobility. How the aristocrats of the 19th century communicated with each other - spouses, relatives, friends, bosses and subordinates, what the feast was like, how they behaved in days of joy and sorrow, what etiquette norms they considered necessary to teach children - all this can be learned from the work of historian Alina Shokareva.