An absorbing saga about the brutalities of military life. Stranded at a distant outpost, young Romashov finds himself obliged to fight a duel over something he realises is meaningless. As the novel hurtles toward a startling conclusion, it reveals itself to be a luminous depiction of the end of an era. This rediscovered gem by a major, yet neglected writer, here presented in a dazzling new translation, is an absorbing account of the final days of Czarist Russia.