War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Published: 1869
Novel.

The novel begins in July 1805 in Saint Petersburg, at a soirée given by Anna Pavlovna Scherer, the maid of honour and confidante to dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Pierre is the illegitimate son of a wealthy count, who is dying after a series of strokes; educated abroad at his father's expense following his mother's death, Pierre is kindhearted but socially awkward, and finds it difficult to integrate into Saint Petersburg society. 

The Roscov family is in Moscow; Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov and Countess Natalya Rostova are an affectionate couple but forever worried about their disordered finances. They have four children.

Thirteen-year-old Natasha believes herself in love with Boris Drubestskoy, a young man who is about to join the army. 

Twenty-year-old Nikolai pledges his love to Sonya, his fifteen-year-old cousin, an orphan who has been brought up by the Rostovs. 

Vera, the eldest, is cold and haughty but has good prospective marriage in a Russian-German officer, Adolf Karlovich Berg. 

Petya, the youngest, is impetus and eager to join the army. 

Characters: 

Count Pyotr Kirillovich (Pierre) Bezukhov
Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky
Princess Maria Nikolayevna Bolkonskaya
Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov
Countless Natalya Rostova
Countless Natalya Ilyinichna (Natasha) Rostova
Count Nikolai Ilyich (Nikolenka) Rostov
Sofia Alexandrovna (Sonya) Rostova
Countess Vera Ilyinichna Rostova
Pyotr Ilyich (Petra) Rostov
Prince Vasily Sergeyevich Kuragin
Princess Elena Vasilyevna Kuragina
Prince Anatole Vasilyevich Kuragin