63 h 43 minAudiobook6 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
In a glittering drawing room, war is still gossip—but soon it reaches the families gathered there.
Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace follows five noble families as Napoleon’s armies threaten Russia. Pierre Bezukhov, awkward and kind, searches for a meaningful life. Prince Andrei Bolkonsky turns from empty society toward military glory. Natasha Rostova begins to discover love and her own feelings.
From St Petersburg drawing rooms to soldiers’ trenches, private hopes meet the force of war. Family loyalty, money, ambition and mistakes shape lives as Russia faces invasion. Tolstoy brings generals and servants into the same wide world, while asking how history takes shape—and whose choices truly matter.
What you’ll discover
- A search for meaning Follow Pierre as he looks beyond his fortune for a way to live with purpose.
- Love taking shape Meet Natasha as her warmth and quick feelings open onto the promise of love.
- Family warmth and strain Enter the generous Rostov household, where hospitality and loyalty sit beside growing money troubles.
- War at close quarters Move between generals’ tents and soldiers’ trenches, seeing battle from sharply different points of view.
- History beyond great men Explore Tolstoy’s challenge to familiar accounts of history and his attention to its many hands.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy big family stories, vivid battle scenes, questions about how to live well, and characters who grow and change over many years.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Guests discuss Napoleon and marriage
- The Rostóvs bring warmth and chaos
- Pierre gains a fortune and loses his freedom
- Andrew and Nicholas meet the real war
- Pierre looks for faith and a useful life
- Natásha's first ball changes two lives
- Anatole's pursuit tests Natásha
- 1812 sweeps everyone into the invasion
- What the book is really about
Who’s who
- Pierre BezúkhovA clumsy, warm-hearted illegitimate son who inherits a fortune and searches for faith and a useful life.
- Prince Andrew BolkónskiA proud, intelligent officer, bored with society, who hopes for glory and for a life with meaning.
- Natásha RostóvaA lively, loving girl who grows from a thirteen-year-old at a name day into a young woman seeking happiness.
- Nicholas RostóvNatásha's brother, a loyal hussar who worships his Emperor and struggles with debt and duty.
- Princess Mary BolkónskayaAndrew's devout sister, who lives under her stern father's rule at Bald Hills.
- SónyaThe Rostóvs' cousin, who loves Nicholas quietly and faithfully.
- Hélène KuráginaPrince Vasíli's cold, beautiful daughter, who rules Petersburg society and marries Pierre.
- Anatole KuráginPrince Vasíli's handsome, reckless son, who chases pleasure wherever he goes.
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- Audiobook
- 63 h 43 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- 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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War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy · 1869
A clumsy young heir, a restless prince and a girl at her first ball walk into Russia's war with Napoleon.
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In short
What happens to a family, a friendship and a whole nation when an empire marches in? War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, follows Russian families from a glittering Petersburg party in 1805 into the wars with Napoleon.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Guests discuss Napoleon and marriage
The book opens in July 1805 at the soirée of Anna Pávlovna Schérer, a fashionable hostess. Her guests talk of Napoleon, whom she calls the Antichrist, and of the coming war.
Prince Vasíli Kurágin wants a good match for his wild son Anatole, and Anna Pávlovna suggests Princess Mary Bolkónskaya. Pierre unsettles the guests with his praise of Napoleon and revolutionary ideas. He is an awkward young man whose wealthy father, a count, is dying. Andrew Bolkónski offers mild support, though he seems weary of married life with Lise, who is expecting their child.
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What is War and Peace about?
It follows the Bolkónskis, Rostóvs and Bezúkhovs from 1805 into the wars with Napoleon. It joins love, family life and battle with Tolstoy's own ideas about history.
Who are the main characters in War and Peace?
The main characters are Pierre Bezúkhov, Prince Andrew Bolkónski and Natásha Rostóva. Nicholas Rostóv, Princess Mary, Sónya, Hélène and Anatole Kurágin also play large parts.
Is War and Peace a true story?
The family stories unfold amid historical events such as Austerlitz and Borodinó. Real figures like Napoleon, Alexander and Kutúzov appear in its pages.
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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