Book Bearings
Anna Karenina
- 660 pages · about 11 hours
- First published 1877
- 1,316 editions
- Free to read
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1 About this book
Anna Karenina, the wife of a senior government official in Saint Petersburg, travels to Moscow to help mend her brother's marriage after his infidelity. There she meets Count Vronsky, a cavalry officer, and the attraction between them grows into an affair that scandalizes society and forces her to choose between her lover and her husband, her position and her young son. Alongside her story runs that of Konstantin Levin, a landowner who courts the young Princess Kitty and wrestles with questions of farming, faith and how to live. Tolstoy's novel, first published as a serial from 1875 to 1877, sets the two stories side by side across the cities and estates of imperial Russia.
- Classics
- Romance
- Marriage
- Morals
- Romance, historical
- Adultery
- Married women
- Social life and customs
2 What to expect
A very long Russian novel built on two stories: a married woman's affair with a cavalry officer and what it costs her, and a landowner's search for love, faith and a good life. Its subjects are marriage, family, jealousy and society's double standards, seen through many characters' thoughts in close psychological detail. The pace is unhurried, with long stretches on farming, politics and country life, and Anna's story is a tragedy.
Good for readers who want: a great Russian novel, love and marriage under scrutiny, and an immersive read.
3 Read it free, right here
A free scan from the Internet Archive opens right here on the page, with no sign-up.
Read it on the Internet Archive4 About Leo Tolstoy
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
5 More by Leo Tolstoy
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