Leo Tolstoy
Writing the greatest novels in world literature — War and Peace and Anna Karenina — with unparalleled realism.
Biography
Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer widely considered one of the greatest novelists of all time. Born into aristocracy at Yasnaya Polyana in 1828, he served in the Crimean War before turning to literature. War and Peace and Anna Karenina are regularly ranked among the finest novels ever written. Tolstoy's later life was marked by a radical moral and spiritual crisis that led him to renounce his wealth and aristocratic lifestyle. His philosophical writings on nonviolent resistance influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. He died in 1910 at a remote railway station.
Best Starting Book
Anna Karenina
More accessible than War and Peace but equally brilliant — a timeless exploration of love, society, and the search for meaning.
Reading Order
Anna Karenina
More focused and emotionally immediate than War and Peace — a devastating love story with perfect structure.
War and Peace
The ultimate novel — once you're ready for the commitment, nothing in literature compares.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
A short masterpiece about mortality and meaning — devastating in just 80 pages.
Hadji Murad
A late novella about the Caucasus wars — lean, powerful, and deceptively simple.
Resurrection
His last major novel — a nobleman confronts the injustice of the system he benefits from.
Books by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina (Illustrated)
Leo Tolstoy, Constance Garnett
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)
Лев Толстой
Anna Karenina (Literature Classics Series)
Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace
graf Leo Tolstoy, Louise Maude
Anna Karenina - The Unabridged Garnett Translation
Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace
graf Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Anna Anna Karenina
Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)
Лев Толстой
Resurrection
Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Richard F. Gustafson
Leo Tolstoy
A. V. Knowles
Resurrection
Leo Tolstoy, Louise Maude
Leo Tolstoy
Victor Lebrun
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Daniel Moulin, Bailey, Richard
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Andrei Zorin
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910, J. M. Packham
Leo Tolstoy
Anthony Thorlby
Leo Tolstoy
Collis, John Stewart
Family Happiness
Leo Tolstoy