A reflection on the life of Leo Tolstoy with biographer Rosamund Bartlett. Tolstoy was orphaned by the age of 9 and lived with relatives. There is some discussion in the podcast of the impact this would have had on him, that he often felt like an outsider and indulged in some ‘wild’ behaviour as a young man.

The podcast continues with Tolstoy’s involvement in Russian wars and his later dissent against Russian imperialism.