War and Peace
War and Peace is Leo Tolstoy's monumental 1869 novel, written in Russian over the course of six years and originally serialized in The Russian Messenger. Set between 1805 and 1820, it follows the entwined fortunes of four Russian aristocratic families, the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs, and the Kuragins, against the backdrop of Napoleon's wars on the European continent and his catastrophic 1812 invasion of Russia. The book moves between glittering Petersburg drawing rooms, Moscow estates, the freezing peasant villages of the Russian interior, and the battlefields of Austerlitz, Schöngrabern, and Borodino. Around the love stories of Pierre Bezukhov, Prince Andrei, and Natasha Rostova, Tolstoy weaves long essayistic passages on free will, on the great-man theory of history, and on the rhythms of farming and family life. He insisted, only half-joking, that War and Peace was not really a novel at all. It is among the most influential books in any language.
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What you might want to know about War and Peace
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
On a July evening in 1805 at Anna Pavlovna Scherer's St. Petersburg salon, the company is talking about Napoleon.
Roughly 1,200 to 1,400 pages depending on translation, with around 580 named characters. It is one of the longest major novels in world literature.
The Pevear and Volokhonsky translation is the most acclaimed modern English version. The Briggs translation is praised for readability, and the older Constance Garnett is widely available in the public domain.
Yes. The plot is propulsive but the philosophical chapters and the cast of names challenge most readers. It rewards a slow pace and a notebook.
War and Peace was written by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1869 by Oxford University Press.
War and Peace is 696 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, War and Peace takes most readers 10 to 15 hours to finish.
War and Peace is a standalone novel by Leo Tolstoy, not part of a series.
War and Peace is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
