One of the most remarkable changes that took place in Russia after the break-up of the Soviet empire was the radical transformation of Russian women's culture. Despite a historically male dominated culture, gender awareness has flourished in the 1990s, and was reflected in a new body of women's literature and a new concern for female experience. The prose and poetry included in this anthology examine essential issues in women's lives: women's sexuality, romantic love, motherhood, the economic and political life of women, their struggle to integrate domestic and professional roles, new family structures, physical health, abortion, rape, and so forth. Twenty-five writers are represented here, ranging from young to old, new to established, avant garde to traditional.