5 h 25 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does courage look like when the talk of glory gives way to fear, wounded men, and waiting?
In Sevastopol, Leo Tolstoy takes you into a Russian naval port under siege during the Crimean War. These three sketches draw on what he sees as a young artillery officer. Sevastopol in December leads you from dawn over the bay into streets, a hospital, and fortified positions, where courage has little need for display.
Sevastopol in May turns to officers whose hunger for rank and approval follows them toward danger. Captain Mikhailov wants acceptance; Kalugin cares how others see him. Sevastopol in August follows the Kozeltsov brothers: weary Mikhail and newly posted Volodya, who longs to prove himself. Fear, pride, and small kindnesses bring the human cost of battle close.
What you’ll discover
- A city under fire Walk beside a narrator who guides you through the harbour, hospital, and bastions.
- Courage without display Look beyond heroic talk to the quiet courage of men living with danger.
- Pride at the front Watch officers weigh their standing among others even as an assault draws near.
- Two brothers facing war Meet a seasoned officer and his eager younger brother, each carrying different fears.
- Truth instead of glory Discover war writing that makes room for boredom, kindness, fear, and sudden death.
Who will love it
For readers who love eyewitness war writing, short, direct prose, and stories of courage, fear and small kindnesses under fire. It also suits anyone curious about Tolstoy before War and Peace.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A winter morning in a city at war
- Courage looks quiet, not heroic
- Officers who care more for rank than life
- An attack, and a truce to bury the dead
- Two brothers in the last weeks of the siege
- What the sketches are about and how they are told
Who’s who
- The narrator of DecemberA guide who leads you through Sevastopol, showing the harbour, the hospital and the bastions as an honest witness would.
- Captain MikhailovA modest infantry officer who longs to be noticed and welcomed by the better-born men around him.
- PraskukhinA proud, touchy officer whose concern for his standing shapes how he behaves under fire.
- KaluginA well-born staff officer who cares about his image and how others see him in the war.
- Prince GaltsinAn aristocratic officer among the men of May, whose rank and manner set him apart from the others.
- Mikhail KozeltsovThe elder brother of August, a seasoned officer who is weary of the front and anxious for his younger brother.
- Volodya KozeltsovThe younger brother, newly posted to Sevastopol, eager to prove himself and afraid of shame.
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- Audiobook
- 5 h 25 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Sewastopol
by Leo Tolstoi · 1855
In Sevastopol's streets and bastions, soldiers face sudden death while pride and tenderness survive under fire.
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In short
Sevastopol is a set of three sketches about the siege of the Russian naval port of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. Leo Tolstoy wrote them in 1855 and 1856.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A winter morning in a city at war
The first sketch, Sevastopol in December, opens at dawn over the bay. The narrator speaks to you directly, as a guide would, and leads you through the town. Sailors move about, carts roll by, and the sound of guns is already in the air. Tolstoy lets you notice how quickly ordinary life carries on beside the fighting.
He takes you down to the harbour and across to the town's streets. You pass a market, a crowd of soldiers and women, and a hospital that you will soon enter. Everything is described plainly, with the eye of someone who has walked these streets. Nothing is made grander than it is.
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What is Sevastopol by Tolstoy about?
It is three linked sketches about the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. They show the city, its hospitals and bastions, the pride and fear of its officers, and the lives of two brothers during the siege.
Is Sevastopol a true story?
It is fiction based on what Tolstoy saw. He served as an artillery officer in the besieged city, and the setting and events are real, but the individual characters and scenes are his own creation.
What are the three Sevastopol Sketches?
They are Sevastopol in December, Sevastopol in May and Sevastopol in August. Each is set at a different time in the siege of 1854 and 1855, and each looks at war from a different angle.
The author
Leo Tolstoy
1828–1910 · Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Leo Tolstoy was a Russian author born in 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana, where he lived for much of his life. He wrote novels, stories, and essays. War and Peace appeared in 1865–1869 and Anna Karenina in 1875–1877. He died in 1910 at Astapovo, Russia.
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