Inside the story
Meet Praskovya Ivanovna Bagrova
Stepan Mikhailovich's orphaned cousin and ward, and the sole female representative of the Bagrov family in her generation. A wealthy heiress, she is married as a young girl to Mikhail Maksimovich Kurolyessoff through a scheme carried out by her maternal relatives and Bagrov women without Stepan Mikhailovich's consent. She later discovers her husband's cruelty, attempts to end his control over her estates, and is imprisoned and abused before Stepan Mikhailovich rescues her.
