In 1871, along with Yulian Simashko, she started to publish and edit the journal Semya i Shkola, then became the head of its Children's Literature section.

[1] In 1876 she left Russia and settled in Paris where, under the mentorship of Ivan Turgenev she completed Guilty without Guilt (Без вины виноватые), her debut short novel which first appeared in Vestnik Evropy in 1877.

[1][6] More novels and novelettes followed, including Vasyuta, Little Countess, Timophey and Anna, published originally in Delo and Niva, as well as some journals for children.

[2] She wrote approximately sixty short stories and articles for the Moscow-based newspaper Russkiye Vedomosti which she was also a staff member.

[1] In 1890 she married Pyotr Vasilyevich Aprelev, a state official with whom she spent some 15 years first in Central Asia, first Samarkand and then Tashkent.