War and Peace

War and Peace tells the story of five families struggling for survival during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Among its many unforgettable characters is Prince Andrey Bolkonsky, who, despising the artifice of high society, joins the army to achieve glory. The novel's other hero, the bumbling Pierre Bezukhov, tries to find meaning in life through a series of philosophical systems. He at last discovers the Tolstoyan truth that wisdom is to be found not in systems but in the ordinary processes of daily life. Both an intimate study of individual passions and an epic historical novel, War and Peace is nothing less than a complete portrait of human existence.