The Scaffold

Before you is one of the most profound, expressive, and dramatic novels by the classic of Soviet literature, Chingiz Aitmatov. It’s a book about humanity—and about what happens when humanity is absent. About nature, about the animal world that is tightly intertwined with the world of people—dependent and vulnerable to violence and cruelty. If wolves turn out to be more humane, more noble, and more selfless than people; if a person makes the wrong moral choice—this always leads to tragedy. Published in 1986, the novel is emotional and modern; the fabric of the narrative is so alive, like an open wound—get ready to empathize with the heroes, to worry for them with your whole heart, and to be sincerely amazed by this remarkable prose.