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. Their subsequent affair scandalizes society and family alike and soon brings jealously and bitterness in its wake.

But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky. Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. Tolstoy's epic novel of love, destiny and self-destruction, in a gorgeous new clothbound edition from Penguin Classics.

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 This acclaimed modern translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky won the PEN/ Book of the Month Club Translation Prize in 2001.

Anna Karenina (A Penguin Classics Hardcover) by Leo Tolstoy

Anna karenina penguin classic