War and Peace cover art

War and Peace

 Preview

War and Peace

By: Leo Tolstoy, Louise Maude - translator, Aylmer Maude - translator
Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
Listen for free

Tolstoy’s epic novel of love and war, in an unabridged performance by Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning actress Thandiwe Newton.

Some call it the greatest novel ever written. Whether it’s your first time, or you’re ready to dive back in, what better way to experience this epic novel than in this exquisite unabridged reading by Thandiwe Newton?

War and Peace is at once an epic war chronicle and an exploration of everything that make us all human: love and hate, ambition and despair, life and death. Allow yourself to get lost in the lives of three Russian aristocratic families, whose triumphs and challenges are every bit as resonant to today’s listener as they were to original readers. Thandiwe Newton inhabits each character with such flair that it is easy to forget that you are listening to one voice.

So cancel all plans, sit back, and let Thandiwe transport you to 19th-century Saint Petersburg....

Public Domain (P)2021 Audible, Ltd Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction War & Military War Military Russia Funny Imperialism
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Featured article: 6 Must-listen classic audiobooks


When you finally get a break from the day-to-day it's the perfect time to get stuck into a classic story. We asked the greatest fan of classic literature in the Audible HQ building for his top picks.

Featured article 6 Must-listen classic audiobooks
All stars
Most relevant
I'm a busy man...lots of family stuff, responsible job, dogs to walk, interests to follow; but I also love literature. War and Peace has been on my radar for some time, but with the best will in the world, I simply don't have the time to indulge yourself in a work this long. So, I took to Audible.
From page one, I was hooked. The actress who reads it is absolutely superb. She has a lovely voice which holds the attention, and she changes her voice for each character in a consistent way. For example, you always know when Natasha or Pierre are talking. I think this actress is fantastic at bringing this work alive and I can't praise her highly enough for her emotional expression, her energy, her characterisation. It is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even a machi man like me was bordering on tears as I drove home from work when Natasha is fooled and ashamed.
If, like me, you enjoy listening to the classics read to you by expert actresses/actors as you do the commute to work, you couldn't get a better version of War and Peace than this.
Unreservedly recommended. I felt a significant episode in my life had passed when the end credits arrived.
Thank you, Audible. And thank you Thandiwe Newton for bringing this so alive in my imagination. Reading a long novel, maintaining interest and consistently staying true to character is an art form which you exemplify in my opinion

I think this is a fantastic production

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A fantastic book that I’ve reviewed slightly more thoroughly on good reads, but just here to say Thandiwe Newton has done an absolutely incredible job narrating this, phenomenal work.

Superb.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you - really enjoyed listening to this, although I found it helpful to have the book too and read along. Without this, I got confused at times when characters reappeared after a long gap. I also used the Wikipedia entry on ‘War and Peace’ to try to remember who was who.

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
War and Peace is a truly magnificent work. The scale and the depth of the work is unprecedented in anything else I have come across. Part spralling epic part historical philosophy the work is enthralling and encapsulating. Be prepared to spend a lot of time listening to this work and have a guide on hand for the opening chapters and the huge volume of characters that appear. From the opening glitz at the party of Anna Shearer to the Halls of Bald Hills, the battlefields of Austerlitz and Borodino to the death march out of Russia this work gets inside us and by the end I found I was longing for more even after 60 hours.

The historical philosophy is prevalent throughout the book however the epilogue deals specifically with this issue. It is deep, complex and intriguing and may only be of interest to the historian or those interested in historiography. Don't let this put you off simply skip the epilogue if you want.

The performance was absolutely amazing. To maintain the energy, effort and passion for 60 hours is amazing, arguably, given the nature of the work, I would say this is the best narration I've ever come across.

A cornerstone of literature expertly performed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It would be presumptuous to try and rate what is potentially one of the greatest traditional novels ever. Suffice it to say that it is all that and more—a lot more. This is the classical Maude translation. There have been more recent ones that are rated as being better but why fix what ain’t broken. Thandiwe Newton’s reading is really superb: you can sense her passion and her enjoyment. She is the cherry on top, the icing on the cake. Her exuberant reading does herself and this classic credit. No wonder she is such a big star. Worth every second of this 60 hour read. Satiated and fulfilled.

Exuberant ***

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews