Boris Vasiliev’s novel is based on a genuine document from his family archive—notes by his great-great-grandfather Alexander Oleksin. Here you’ll find everything: an adventurous plot, a romantic love story, scenes of the war in the Caucasus, vivid pictures of noble and military life, meetings between the hero and Pushkin… The story of the writer’s ancestor’s life allows him to engage in deep reflections on Russia’s fate.