Few would dispute the claim of 'War and Peace' to be regarded as the greatest novel in any language. This massive chronicle, to which Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910) devoted five whole years shortly after his marriage, portrays Russian family life during and after the Napoleonic War. Tolstoy's faith in life and his piercing insight lend universality to a work which holds the mirror up to Nature as truly as those of Shakespeare or Homer.
