Fathers and Sons is an 1862 novel by Ivan Turgenev published in Moscow. It is one of the most acclaimed Russian novels of the 19th century.

Arkady Kirsanov has just graduated from the University of Petersburg. He returns with a friend Bazarov to his father's modest estate in an outlying province of Russia. His father Nikolay gladly receives the two young men at his estate called Marino but Nikolay's brother Pavel soon becomes upset by the strange new philosophy called "nihilism" which the young men especially Bazarov advocate.

Nikolay initially delighted to have his son return home slowly begins to feel uneasy. A certain awkwardness develops in his regard toward his son as Arkady's radical views much influenced by Bazarov make Nikolay's own beliefs feel dated. Nikolay has always tried to stay as current as possible by doing things such as visiting his son at school so the two can stay as close as they can but this in Nikolay's eyes has failed. To complicate this the father has taken a servant Fenechka into his house to live with him and has already had a son by her named Mitya. Arkady however is not troubled by the relationship; on the contrary he is delighted by the addition of a younger brother.