A brilliant short novel based on Tolstoy's early life as a soldier in the Caucusus, THE COSSACKS has all the energy & poetry of youth while at the same time foreshadowing the great themes of Tolstoy's later years. A young officer finds himself living among tribesmen on the borders of southern Russia. In depicting his experience, Tolstoy explores the birth & death of love, the transience of life, the love of honour & the pain of war, all portrayed amidst the wild & magnificent landscape of the mountains & described in exquisite detail.