PENGUIN CLASSICS TOLSTOY'S LAST STEPS

1910. Anna Karenina and War and Peace have made Leo Tolstoy the world's most famous author. But fame comes at a price. In the tumultuous final year of his life, Tolstoy is desperate to find respite, so leaves his large family and the hounding press behind and heads into the wilderness. But as we learn through the journals of those closest to him, the battle for Tolstoy's soul will not be a peaceful one.

Jay Parini introduces, translates and edits this collection of Tolstoy's autobiographical writing, diaries and letters related to the last year of Tolstoy's life. Published to coincide with the 2009 film of Parini's novel The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy's Final Year, starring Helen Mirren and James McAvoy.