7 h 6 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the life you long for belongs to a world that may never accept you?
Dmitri Olenin leaves Moscow on a winter night, weary of society, burdened by debt and hungry for a truer life. In Leo Tolstoy’s short novel, The Cossacks, he travels south to the Caucasus. Snow peaks make his old worries seem small. A village near the Terek River offers a different rhythm: hunting, fishing, wine and war.
Here Olenin meets Uncle Eroshka, a loud, generous hunter with his own philosophy of living. He also falls for Maryanka, a proud young woman who guards her independence. But Lukashka, a bold Cossack admired in the village, is expected to marry her. Olenin’s wish to begin again meets lives and loyalties that do not bend around his hopes.
What you’ll discover
- Mountains that change perspective See the Caucasus through Olenin’s wonder as its snow peaks dwarf his familiar troubles.
- A hunter’s earthy wisdom Meet Uncle Eroshka, whose appetite for life offers Olenin another way to think.
- Love meets independence Encounter Maryanka’s reserve, proud bearing and determination to remain her own person.
- Life along the frontier Enter a village where hunting, fishing and wine share daily life with war.
- The wish to belong Follow Olenin’s honest doubts as Tolstoy reveals what his eager newcomer cannot see.
Who will love it
For readers who love a short, vivid novel with a strong sense of place, and anyone who has wished to start life over somewhere simpler. A love story and questions of belonging unfold in a Cossack village.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A bored nobleman leaves Moscow behind
- The mountains and the village on the Terek
- Uncle Eroshka teaches another way to live
- Lukashka, the frontier, and the danger across the river
- Love for Maryanka and what it asks of him
- How Tolstoy tells it: nature, contrast and honest doubt
Who’s who
- Dmitri OleninA rich young Russian nobleman, weary of society and in debt, who goes to the Caucasus hoping to start a truer life.
- MaryankaA strong, proud young Cossack woman who works hard, guards her independence and meets the newcomer with reserve.
- LukashkaA bold young Cossack, skilled and admired in the village, who is expected to marry Maryanka.
- Uncle EroshkaAn old Cossack hunter, loud, generous and fond of drink, who teaches Olenin his own simple philosophy of living.
- BeletskyA fellow officer and man of fashion who brings the manners and pleasures of Petersburg to the frontier.
- VanyushaOlenin's loyal servant, who travels with him from Moscow and keeps his master's household running.
- UlitaMaryanka's mother, who lodges Olenin in her house and watches over her family's interests.
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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I cosacchi
by Lev Tolstoj · 1863
Olenin leaves Moscow for a Cossack village, where love and a dream of belonging test his hopes for a truer life.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A bored nobleman leaves Moscow behind
The novel opens in Moscow on a winter night. Dmitri Olenin is about to leave the city, and his friends have gathered to see him off. He is young, orphaned, wealthy and used to pleasure, but he feels that his days have been wasted. He has run up debts, he has loved without commitment, and he has begun many things without finishing any.
He decides to join the army as a cadet and serve in the Caucasus. Part of him wants a fresh start. Part of him wants adventure and the chance to be brave, as the books of his day promised a soldier could be. He takes his servant Vanyusha, his horses and his belongings, and he sets out on a long road south.
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What is The Cossacks by Tolstoy about?
It follows Dmitri Olenin, a young Russian nobleman who leaves Moscow for a Cossack village in the Caucasus. He hopes to find a more honest life, and falls in love with a Cossack woman, Maryanka.
Is The Cossacks based on a true story?
It is fiction, but it draws on Tolstoy's own army service in the Caucasus in the early 1850s. Olenin is partly a portrait of the author as a young man. It was published in 1863.
Who are the Cossacks in the novel?
They are frontier settlers and warriors who live along the Terek River in the Caucasus. They farm, hunt and make wine, and the men guard the border against raids from the mountains.
The author
Leo Tolstoy
1828–1910 · Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Leo Tolstoy was a Russian author born in 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana, where he lived for much of his life. He wrote novels, stories, and essays. War and Peace appeared in 1865–1869 and Anna Karenina in 1875–1877. He died in 1910 at Astapovo, Russia.
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