Anna Karenina

Tolstoy's epic novel of love, destiny and self-destruction, in a gorgeous new clothbound edition from Penguin Classics. Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky. Their subsequent affair scandalizes society and family alike and soon brings jealously and bitterness in its wake. Contrasting with this tale of love and self-destruction is the vividly observed story of Levin, a man striving to find contentment and a meaning to his life - and also a self-portrait of Tolstoy himself. This acclaimed modern translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky won the PEN/ Book of the Month Club Translation Prize in 2001. Their translation is accompanied in this edition by an introduction by Richard Pevear and a preface by John Bayley'The new and brilliantly witty translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is a must' - Lisa Appignanesi, Independent, Books of the Year'Pevear and Volokhonsky are at once scrupulous translators and vivid stylists of English, and their superb rendering allows us, as perhaps never before, to grasp the palpability of Tolstoy's "characters, acts, situations"' - James Wood, New Yorker

Penguin Clothbound Classics are bound in cloth and not paper. The design is stamped on in foil, and each cover repeats one small icon taken from the story. The series was designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, who took her inspiration from Victorian bookbinding. Each book has coloured endpapers and a ribbon bookmark. They make beautiful presents.

The foil can rub off if the books are stacked tightly, so give them a little room on the shelf.

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Classic fiction (pre c 1945)

Published on 28 Nov 2013 by Penguin Books Ltd.