Aylmer Maude (1858–1938) was a close friend of Tolstoy and his most important English translator. His biography, of which this volume covers the first fifty years of Tolstoy’s life, remains one of the most authoritative and readable accounts of the great novelist — drawing on personal acquaintance as well as deep research to portray the man behind the masterpieces.
For anyone who loves Tolstoy’s fiction and wants to understand the life and mind from which it emerged, this biography is essential. The public-domain text is freely available as an EPUB download.