An autobiographical memoir, the book covers Nabokov's life from 1903 until his emigration to America in 1940. The first twelve chapters describe his remembrance of his youth in an aristocratic family living in pre-revolutionary Saint Petersburg and at their country estate Vyra, near Siverskaya. The three remaining chapters recall his years at Cambridge and as part of the Russian émigré community in Berlin and Paris.

First published in 1951 under title: Conclusive evidence.