Anna Karenina (Library Edition)

Product Description [Library Edition Audiobook CD in Vinyl case.] *Now a major motion picture starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law, and Aaron Johnson [Audiobook read by Wanda McCaddon] A magnificent drama of vengeance, infidelity, and retribution, Anna Karenina tells the story of two characters whose emotional instincts conflict with the dominant social mores of their time. Sensual, rebellious Anna falls deeply and passionately in love with the handsome Count Vronsky. When she refuses to conduct the discreet affair that her cold, ambitious husband - and Russian high society - would condone, she is doomed. Set against the tragic love of Anna and Vronsky, the plight of the melancholy nobleman Konstantine Levin unfolds. In doubt about the meaning of life - a mirror of Tolstoy's own spiritual crisis - Konstantine is haunted by thoughts of suicide. Review ''Considered one of the pinnacles of world literature.'' --Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature''There is no doubt that Anna Karenina, generally considered Tolstoy's best book, is definitely one ripping great read.'' --Amazon.com, editorial review''A sexy and engrossing read, this book tells the tale of one of the most enthralling love affairs in the history of literature.'' --Oprah.com ''Flawless as a work of art.'' --Fyodor Dostoevsky About the Author LEO TOLSTOY was born in 1828 about two hundred miles from Moscow. His mother died when he was two, his father when he was nine. His parents were of noble birth, and Tolstoy remained acutely aware of his aristocratic roots, even when he later embraced doctrines of equality and the brotherhood of man. After serving in the army in the Caucasus and Crimea, where he wrote his first stories, he traveled and studied educational theories. In 1862 he married Sophia Behrs and for the next fifteen years lived a tranquil, productive life, finishing War and Peace in 1869 and Anna Karenina in 1877. In 1879 he underwent a spiritual crisis; he sought to propagate his beliefs on faith, morality, and nonviolence, writing mostly parables, tracts, and morality plays. Tolstoy died of pneumonia in 1910 at the age of eighty-two.