Count Leo Tolstoe was born in 1828 and is considered Russia's greatest novelist. He was orphaned at the age of nine and was raised by his aunts. He served in the Russia army and participated in the defense of Sevastopol, this could be the reason that his discriptions of the battle field are so moving and real - he had been on the battlefield. He is best known for Anna Karenina and War and Peace but he was a very prolific writer and most of then have been translated.

War And Peace

There is so much to this book it is hard to know where to begin. The story line takes you from the drawing rooms and lavish ballrooms of Moscow to the battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars. From the beauty of young love to the horror of death. It is excellent. I didn't attempt to read it at one sitting, I took it in sections and the took time to think about it. There were characters I loved, some I hated and some I wanted to shake some sense into, but maybe that is why it is so great, we all know people just like them!!