Reading the opening of a huge novel, a novel with he size and scope of Tolstoy’s War & Peace, may well be an intimidating prospect. However, we got off to a good start this week. In the first seven chapters, we have been introduced to many of the main characters, as well as the most famous person of his time – Napoleon – who is on the horizon, and the rich and powerful of the Russian Empire are quaking in their boots. But what makes War & Peace a great novel is that life still goes on, despite the great events of history, and the reader is drawn in to the lives and loves of the cast, wondering how these marriages will fare, which young men will be successes, and whether there is a way for these young women to build a meaningful existence.

 

Mr Ahern