I am swept up in prose that is so beautiful it has moved me more than once to tears. I love Bartlett's language. It resonates with my concept of Tolstoy and this magnificent novel. I recommend this book; I don't think a new reader of "Anna" could go wrong with Bartlett.

Rosamund Bartlett has published widely in the fields of Russian literature and music. Her books include Wagner and Russia and Shostakovitch in Context, as well as biographies of Chekhov and Tolstoy. Her life of Tolstoy was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. As a translator, she has published the first unexpurgated edition of Chekhov's letters for Penguin Classics, and her translation of Chekhov's short stories, About Love and Other Stories, for Oxford World's Classics was shortlisted.