First published 2016
Leo Tolstoi's private journal reveals a man grappling with his own mortality. Amidst the day-to-day trivia of his aristocratic existence, he reckons with existential questions, bouts of depression, and the pain of failed relationships. As his health declines, Tolstoi's journal becomes an intimate window into the final years of a literary giant's life. An unvarnished portrait of a complex, troubled soul.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, memoir, non-fiction, 19th-century, russian-literature
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-study, introspective, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Russia
Period: 1895-1899
210 pages · Paperback · Independently published
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness