Anastasia Alekseevna Verbitskaya - a prominent representative of the "ladies' direction" - was extremely popular at the turn of the century. The novel "The Keys of Happiness" sold out so well in 1909 that in the next three years the author wrote a sequel to six books. In 1915, the circulation of her publications reached 280,000 copies. However, our contemporaries, when they read this ladies' novel, will be surprised. The main character, Maria Eltsova, does not at all dream of quickly marrying a rich groom. Maria has three admirers, among them, by the way, a millionaire. But she does not pay attention to millions, but enters into "free love" with a poor aristocrat, gives birth to a child out of wedlock ... Such are they, free views at the turn of the century. In the Forgotten Bestsellers of the 19th–20th Centuries series, Strelbitsky's Multimedia Publishing House has collected works by Russian and foreign authors of pre-revolutionary literature that have gained recognition among the mass reader. Like today, a hundred years ago, detective stories, love stories and erotica, fantastic, adventure and adventurous stories were popular.
