Guerre et Paix - Tome II

Tolstoy intended War and Peace to begin like a jet of water, its thousand droplets scattering in all directions.
The jet of water bursts forth with such force that it falls back down as rain, in raging torrents that sweep across all of Russia. Entire armies, historical figures—Napoleon, Kutuzov, Alexander—and no less famous beings, though born from the imagination of the lion Tolstoy, sail and ride through it to the sound of bells and cannons: the handsome and valiant Prince Andrei, the less handsome but equally seductive Peter Bezukhov, Natasha, the adorable sinner… An immense work, a monument of literature, no adjective is ridiculous when applied to War and Peace, yet none does it justice. It is the masterpiece of the historical novel, the masterpiece of the novel of all genres and all times.