War and Peace

This classic of world literature, War and Peace has been hailed as one of the greatest novels ever written. Tolstoy's epic tale entwines grand themes, ranging from moving depictions of historical events to intimate scenes of family life, as his portrait of both public spectacles and private lives offer a tale of both panoramic scope and closely observed detail. The story unfolds in St. Petersburg in 1805 as citizens grow concerned about the prospect of war. We watch terror engulf the country when Napoleon’s army marches into Russia, and the lives of three young people are changed forever. Natasha Rostov is 16 and excited about attending her first ball but her impulsiveness threatens to destroy her happiness. Prince Andrei Bolkonsky has an epiphany when seeing wartime suffering on the battlefield of Austerlitz and Pierre Bezukhov is searching for meaning in his life. Tolstoy entwines the themes of conflict and love, birth and death, free will and fate set against unforgettable scenes of nineteenth-century Russia, to create a magnificent epic of human life in all its imperfection and grandeur. His classic tale of strivers in a world mired in conflict, social and political change and spiritual confusion and his ability to invent realistic fictional characters who suffer from the true human experience has had a lasting impact in Russia and around the world.