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War and Peace

byLeo Tolstoy, John Hurt (Read by), Lesley Manville (Read by), Full Cast (Read by), Harriet Walter (Read by), Paterson Joseph (Read by)

BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Paterson Joseph, John Hurt, Lesley Manville and Harriet Walter are among the stellar cast of this landmark BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Leo Tolstoy’s epic saga.

‘Tolstoy’s imagined world is recreated on air brilliantly by the extraordinary cast’ The Spectator

One of the greatest novels of all time, War and Peace explores historical, social, ethical and religious issues on a scale never before attempted in fiction, and reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society during the 19th Century.

Adapted for radio by Timberlake Wertenbaker, this riveting, wide-ranging drama follows the fortunes of four Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Told in flashback over ten episodes, it moves from fashionable society soirées in St Petersburg and Moscow to the battlefields of Austerlitz and Borodino, as protagonists Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai describe to their children the events that shaped their lives and those of every Russian who lived through this turbulent time.

First broadcast on New Year's Day 2015, this dynamic full-cast dramatisation features specially composed music by Stephen Warbeck. It stars Paterson Joseph as Pierre, Phoebe Fox as Natasha, Natasha Little as Marya and Sam Reid as Nikolai, part of a stunning cast including Alun Armstrong, Simon Russell Beale and Roger Allam.

Duration: 10 hours approx.

Tolstoy’s imagined world is recreated on air brilliantly by the extraordinary cast

The Spectator

About Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy was born in central Russia on 9 September 1828. In 1852 he published his first work, the autobiographical Childhood. He served in the army during the Crimean War and his Sevastopol Sketches (1855-6) are based on his experiences. His two most popular masterpieces are War and Peace (1864-69) and Anna Karenina (1875-8). He died in 1910.
Details
  • Imprint: BBC Digital Audio
  • ISBN: 9781785294570
  • Length: 615 minutes
  • Price: £14.00