War and Peace

Russia, 1805 and after: Napoleon’s armies are on the move, and in their shadow unfold the lives of several families — among them the thoughtful, clumsy Pierre Bezukhov, the proud Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and the unforgettable young Natasha Rostova. Tolstoy sets private love, ambition and grief against the great events of the age: Austerlitz, Borodino, the burning of Moscow.

Published in instalments from 1865 and complete in 1869, it is long, and it is worth it. Its pages on a ball, a hunt, a battle and a death are among the most vivid in world literature.