num_pages: 1352
description: Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soirees alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed. The prodigious cast of characters, seem to act and move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will, fate, and providence. Yet Tolstoy's portrayal of marital relations and scenes of domesticity is as truthful and poignant as the grand themes that underlie them.
language: English
title: War and Peace
titlecomplete: War and Peace
characters: Anna Scherer, Lise Bolkonskaya, Maria Bolkonskaya, Vera Rostova, Platon Karataev, Petya Rostov, Nikolai Rostov, Mikhail Kutuzov, Vasili Denisov, Adolf Berg, Fedja Dolochov, Sonya Rostova, Ilya Rostov, Nikolai Bolkonsky, Anna Drubetskaya, Pierre Bezukhov, Boris Drubetskoy, Anatole Kuragin, Helene Kuragina, Osip Basdeev, Mademoiselle Bourienne, Natasha Rostova, Prince Andrey Bokonsky
genres: Classics, Historical, Russia, Novels, Russian Literature, War, Historical Fiction, Literature, 19th Century, Fiction
ratings_count: 318139
places: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Russia
awards: awardedAt: 1672560000000
name: Audie Award
category: Literary Fiction & Classics and Nominee for Best Female Narrator
publisher: Penguin