Leo Tolstoy

Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once a historical war epic, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Noted for its mastery of realistic detail and psychological analysis, War and Peace follows the metamorphosis of five aristocratic...

Paterson Joseph, John Hurt, Lesley Manville and Harriet Walter are among the cast of BBC Radio 4's epic full-cast dramatisation. Adapted for radio by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Leo Tolstoy's epic story follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. First...

The novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy was published in 1886 and is considered a masterpiece of his late-period fiction. It tells the story of a high-court judge in 19th-century Russia. He lives a simple, carefree life with his family until he is diagnosed with a terminal illness...

In early nineteenth-century Russia, the threat of Napoleon’s invasion looms, and the lives of millions are about to be changed forever. This includes Pierre Bezúkhov, illegitimate son of an aristocrat; Andrew Bolkónski, ambitious military scion; and Natásha Rostóva, compassionate daughter...

A thirty-five strong cast including Leo McKern as Kutuzov, Simon Russell Beale as Pierre Bezuhov, Emily Mortimer as Natasha Rostov and Gerard Murphy as Andrei Bolkonsky, brings all the passion and turbulence of Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece to the airwaves in this unique BBC Radio 4 dramatisation...

“There is one thing, and only one thing, in which it is granted to you to be free in life… that is to recognise and profess the truth.” The culmination of a lifetime of philosophical thought and consideration, The Kingdom of God is Within You (1893) is a powerful treatise on faith...

Hailed as one of the world's supreme masterpieces on the subject of death and dying, Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his death so much as a passing thought. But one day, death announces...

This collection of 11 stories spans virtually the whole of Tolstoy's creative life. While each is unique in form, as a group they are representative of his style, and touch on the central themes that surface in War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Stories as different as "The Snowstorm", "Lucerne"...

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." Resurrection, one of Leo Tolstoy’s later works, is a powerful exploration of personal morality, the possibility of redemption, and the profound impact of one’s choices on others. Privileged nobleman Dmitri...

One of the world’s greatest novelists, Leo Tolstoy was also the author of a number of superb short stories, one of his best-known being “The Kreutzer Sonata.” This macabre story involves the murder of a wife by her husband. It is a penetrating study of jealousy as well as a piercing...

Anna Karenina appears to have the perfect life. Young and beautiful, she lives in a fashionable house in Moscow with her respected husband and their young son. But Anna is deeply unhappy. Her older husband bores her, and she misses the lively city she grew up in.

A beloved classic of world literature, War and Peace centers on Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 and studies the years around it through the lens of multiple wealthy families.

A Classic Pair: A Tale of Two Cities & War and Peace brings together two unforgettable pieces of historical fiction – by turns beautiful and devastating – from nineteenth-century literary giants, Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy.

The Big Book of Christmas: Classic Stories and Poems is a grand compilation that assembles a treasure trove of holiday tales and poems from a remarkable array of authors. This extensive collection includes 100 classic works, each thoughtfully illustrated, to immerse readers in the magic and...

Kholstomer is a work by Leo Tolstoy that has been referred to as "one of the most striking stories in Russian literature". It was started in 1863 and left unfinished until 1886, when it was reworked and published as Kholstomer: The Story of a Horse. This story prominently features the technique...

A Letter to a Hindu (also known as "A Letter to a Hindoo") was a letter written by Leo Tolstoy to Tarak Nath Das on 14 December 1908. The letter was written in response to two letters sent by Das, seeking support from the Russian author and thinker for India's independence from colonial rule. In...

“The Cossacks live not by the dictates of the world but by a code woven from their own history and way of life.” Published in 1883 and set in the Caucasus, The Cossacks follows the journey of Dmitry Andreich Olenin, a young nobleman who, disillusioned with his privileged life and a failed...

"The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity." Tolstoy’s War and Peace, written in serial format and published between 1865 and 1869, is widely regarded as a masterwork of Russian literature and one of the world’s greatest novels. This epic novel intricately weaves together the lives of...

"All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow." Widely considered to be one of Tolstoy’s finest works, Anna Karenina is both a tragic love story and an exploration of the complexities of love, infidelity, and societal expectations in 19th-century Russia...

“In the end, it is love alone that matters, the love that we give and receive.” Considered one of the masterpieces of Tolstoy’s later fiction, The Death of Ivan Ilyich tells the story of Ivan Ilyich Golovin, a high-ranking judge in the Russian judicial system. His life appears successful...