Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace is a sprawling epic covering the impact of Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia on five different families.

As Napoleon's army marches on Russia the lives of three young people are changed forever. The stories of quixotic Pierre, cynical Andrey and impetuous Natasha interweave with a huge cast, from aristocrats and peasants to soldiers and Napoleon himself. In War and Peace, Tolstoy entwines grand themes - conflict and love, birth and death, free will and faith - with unforgettable scenes of nineteenth-century Russia, to create a magnificent epic of human life in all its imperfection and grandeur.

Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds - peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with their problems. As the novel progresses, these characters transcend their time and place to become some of the most moving - and human - figures in world literature.

* NOTE: War and Peace contains 15 "books" and 2 epilogues.The complete novel is about 1400 pages, no longer than many modern trilogies.