The Cossacks, 1963

The Cossacks is full of Tolstoy’s memories of the time he spent in the Caucasus and many of the characters are based on friends he made there, including a lover he was particularly enamoured with. It focuses on Olenin, a rich young nobleman who contrasts his former society life in Moscow with the simple life of the Cossacks and finds the latter to his taste. Olenin is liked but not accepted in the community and realises there is no place for him there. At various times The Cossacks is called The Caucasian Story, The Fugitive and other titles too. Tolstoy labours over it for a decade before being forced to finish it because of his weakness for gambling: in 1862 he has to access money quickly to pay off a gambling debt and receives 1,000 roubles from Mikhail Katkov, editor of the periodical, The Russian Herald, in exchange for the rights.