War and Peace

A huge novel with real story pull in its family chapters and a reputation it mostly earns. The history essays are long and optional if you only want the characters. Four and a half out of five (draft, for the owner to confirm). Read it if: you want a family saga that also covers a war and its causes; you like characters who change slowly over years; you are happy to read the history essays at your own pace. Skip it if: you want a fast plot every chapter: the battle chapters and the essays slow it down; dozens of russian names and nicknames wear you out; you expect a single hero: it follows many people.

Our ending explained covers the final chapters in full, with spoilers. How does War and Peace end? The 1820 epilogue, who marries whom, the last scene and what the second epilogue argues. Full spoilers. War and Peace Ending Explained →

What is War and Peace about? A book-by-book summary of Tolstoy's novel: three families, Napoleon's invasion, the epilogues, and how many pages it is. Full spoilers. War and Peace Summary: What Is It About? Book by Book →

War and Peace follows three families, the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys and the Bezukhovs, in Russia from 1805 to 1813, through Napoleon's wars and the 1812 invasion. Its main young characters are Pierre, Prince Andrew and Natasha, and the book closes with two epilogues, the second of which is an essay on history.

It depends on the edition. The Project Gutenberg ebook (Maude translation, #2600) has about 563,000 words, in 15 books, 2 epilogues and 365 chapters. The Oxford World's Classics paperback of the same translation is listed at 1,392 pages (reported by the publisher and retailers, as of November 2026).

Yes, reported: a six-part BBC One adaptation first shown on 3 January 2016, written by Andrew Davies and directed by Tom Harper, with Paul Dano, Lily James and James Norton (as of November 2026). The book itself is far larger than six hours of television.

The Rostovs are a warm, spendthrift Moscow family with four children and a young cousin, Sonya. The Bolkonskys are Old Prince Bolkonsky, his daughter Princess Mary, and his son Prince Andrew. Pierre Bezukhov is the illegitimate son of a rich count who unexpectedly inherits his name and fortune.

The Project Gutenberg text, ebook #2600, in the Maude translation by Aylmer and Louise Maude. It has 15 books and 2 epilogues. Names, spellings and chapter numbers in our guides follow that text, and other translations may differ.