Sunday, August 10, 2014

The ten best historical novels...ever?

One title on the Telegraph's list of the ten best historical novels:
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy's epic masterpiece, published in 1869, is a story of family life set against the backdrop of war, as Napoleon's armies sweep through Europe. Seen through the eyes of five Russian aristocratic families, the novel culminates in the French invasion of Russia in 1812 and Napoleon's defeat. It is widely considered to be Tolstoy’s finest work and one of the greatest novels ever written, historical or otherwise, although the writer himself said that it was “not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle”.
Read about the other books on the list.

War and Peace appears among Simon Sebag Montefiore's five top books about Moscow, Oliver Ford Davies's six best books, Stella Tillyard's four favorite historical novels, Ann Shevchenko's top ten novels set in Moscow, Karl Marlantes' top ten war stories, Niall Ferguson's five most important books, Norman Mailer's top ten works of literature, and John Mullan's lists of ten of the best battles in literature, ten of the best floggings in fiction, and ten of the best literary explosions.

--Marshal Zeringue