The Cossacks

In 2010, we mark the centenary of Tolstoy's death with a number of Tolstoy recordings, starting with "The Cossacks".

Naxos AudioBooks has developed a strong association with Tolstoy's writing, best represented by our landmark recording of the unabridged War and Peace.

Dissatisfied with his life of frivolity among the aristocracy of Moscow, young Dmitri Andreyevitch Oleynin sets out for the Caucasus region.

Here, among the natural beauty of his surroundings and the honest and industrious peasant people, Oleynin hopes to obtain a more meaningful existence.

Yet Oleynin is marked out as an outsider from the very beginning, and his ill-fated passion for Maryanka, who is betrothed to a local hero, does little to ingratiate himself with this society.

This beautifully articulated novel of self-discovery, youthful idealism and romance is read with great sympathy by Jonathan Oliver.