Thanks to the film “The Hussar Ballad”, some facts from the biography of the first Russian female officer, the famous “cavalry maiden” Nadezhda Durova, became widely known. But Durova lived a long and difficult life. She served in the Russian Imperial Army for about ten years and was acquainted with many outstanding figures of the era of Alexander the First and with the sovereign himself. Her literary talent was highly appreciated by A.S. Pushkin. A book written by the laureate of the International Literary Prize of the SP RF. Valentin Pikul by Moscow writer Alla Igorevna Begunova, is based on documents and archival sources and reveals to readers previously unknown pages of the life and work of the legendary heroine of the Patriotic War of 1812.