What made Chekhov tick? We know what made him feel gloomy - his work is full of acutely observed studies of human failings, albeit depicted with warmth and humour. But what served as a positive source of creative inspiration in his life? What moved him?

In answering these questions, Chekhov: Scenes from a Life focuses on the writer's intimate relationship with the places he lived and travelled in: provincial Taganrog and the southern Russian steppes, Moscow, Petersburg, Siberia, the French Riviera and Yalta all held him in their thrall. By looking at his life through the prism of these landscapes, it is possible to gain a far greater insight into one of the most inscrutable and elusive writers who ever lived.

A century after his death Chekhov's writing and world view are as acute as ever, and ripe for rediscovery. Affectionate yet dispassionate, Chekhov: Scenes from a Life restores humour and warmth to a man too often seen as merely melancholic, and reminds us why Raymond Carver described him as 'the greatest short-story writer who has ever lived'.