The Golovlyov Family (Gospoda Golovlyovy) is a novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, written in the course of five years, first published in 1880 by Alexey Suvorin's publishing house, and generally regarded as the author's magnum opus.
The novel is divided into 7 chapters. The first five were initially published as a series of short stories of a cycle called The Well-Meant Speeches (1875-1876) in Otechestvennye Zapiski. In 1876 Saltykov-Shchedrin made a decision to unite all the parts into one novel and added two more chapters to it, which appeared in the same magazine. The book came out in 1881, original texts considerably changed by the author.