War and Peace

The greatest ever war novel in the history of literature - Thomas Mann

This handsome 2-book boxed set brings together Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace is two handy paperback volumes.

Set in Russia during the Napoleonic era, Tolstoy's epic novel follows the fortunes of five aristocratic Russian families over the course of the French invasion. His timeless portrayal of familial existence against the backdrop of war is ultimately optimistic and life-affirming; with the educated, but socially awkward Count Pierre Bezukhov often giving voice to Tolstoy's own beliefs.

Weaving together the historical and the personal, this powerful work of Russian literature traverses the entire scale of human life.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classic Collections series features delightful, high-quality paperback box sets of classic works of literature with striking contemporary cover designs.

Leo Tolstoy was born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, and is considered to be one of the greatest authors of all time. His novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina best illustrate the dramatic scope and intense realism which became his trademark and stand as a testament to his extraordinary observational powers. The poet Matthew Arnold wrote that a novel by Tolstoy is not a work of art, but a piece of life. Tolstoy's own wartime experiences culminated in his conversion to pacifist and spiritual anarchist, and his ideas on non-violent resistance had a profound influence on 20th-century figures such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Husband and wife Aylmer and Louise Maude were the most famous early translators of Leo Tolstoy. They had the great advantage of knowing Tolstoy and Aylmer was his authorized biographer. Of their translations Tolstoy wrote, 'Better translations, both for knowledge of the two languages and for penetration into the very meaning of the matter translated, could not be invented.'