This beautiful Penguin Classics clothbound edition of Tolstoy\047s great novel is translated with an introduction and notes by Anthony Briggs, and with an afterword by Orlando Figes.At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon\047s army marches on Russia, and 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.Anthony Briggs\047s superb translation combines stirring, accessible prose with fidelity to Tolstoy\047s original, while Orlando Figes\047s afterword discusses the novel\047s vast scope and depiction of Russian identity. This edition also contains appendices, notes, a list of prominent characters and maps.