num_pages: 803
description: Married to a powerful government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful woman who falls deeply in love with a wealthy army officer, the elegant Count Vronsky. Desperate to find truth and meaning in her life, she rashly defies the conventions of Russian society and leaves her husband and son to live with her lover. Condemned and ostracized by her peers and prone to fits of jealousy that alienate Vronsky, Anna finds herself unable to escape an increasingly hopeless situation. Set against this tragic affair is the story of Konstantin Levin, a melancholy landowner whom Tolstoy based largely on himself. While Anna looks for happiness through love, Levin embarks on his own search for spiritual fulfillment through marriage, family, and hard work. Surrounding these two central plot threads are dozens of characters whom Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together, creating a breathtaking tapestry of nineteenth-century Russian society. From its famous opening sentence—"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”—to its stunningly tragic conclusion, this enduring tale of marriage and adultery plumbs the very depths of the human soul.
language: English
title: Anna Karenina
titlecomplete: Anna Karenina
characters: Count Aleksei Kirillovich Vronsky, Anna Arkadyevna Karenina, Prince Stepan "Stiva" Arkadyevitch Oblonsky, Princess Ekaterina "Kitty" Aleksandrovna Shcherbatskaya, Konstantin "Kostya" Dmitrievitch Levin
genres: Russia, Historical Fiction, Historical, Novels, Literature, Russian Literature, Classics, Romance, Fiction, 19th Century
ratings_count: 819229
places: Russia
awards: awardedAt: 1325404800000
name: Premio literatura rusa en España, awardedAt: 1325404800000
name: Read Russia Prize
category: Classic Russian Literature for Victor Gallego Ballestero
publisher: Barnes & Noble