Anna Karenina (Vintage Classic Russians Series)

By: Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by: Tamaryn Payne

Brought to you by Penguin.

TRANSLATED BY LOUISE AND AYLMER MAUDE

Anna is a beautiful, intelligent woman whose passionate affair with the dashing Count Vronsky leads her to ruin. But her story is also about a search for meaning, and by twinning it with that of Levin, an awkward idealist whose happy marriage and domestic trials form the backdrop for a similar quest, Tolstoy creates a rich and complex masterpiece that has captured the imagination of readers for decades.

The Vintage Classic Russians Series: Published for the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, these are must-have, beautifully designed editions of six epic masterpieces that have survived controversy, censorship and suppression to influence decades of thought and artistic expression.

(P) Penguin Audio 2020

Critic reviews

One of the greatest love stories in world literature (Vladimir Nabokov)

Tolstoy's historical and human sweep is breathtaking. His vision, humanity and his knowledge that love and pain are at the heart of life is the most important of all the profound truths revealed in this great novel (Jonathan Dimbleby)

In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy got totally inside the mind of a woman who is prepared to lose everything for the sake of man and who is so much in love that she commits suicide. I don't like her as a woman, but I think it is a brilliant portrait, unequalled in literature (Amanda Craig)

I've read and re-read this novel and every time I find another layer in the story (Philippa Gregory)

I first read Anna Karenina 20 years ago when travelling across the Peruvian desert on a long bus journey, and it has stayed with me ever since (Hugh Thomson)

Anyone who has read Anna Karenina will be aware of its extraordinary power as an epic psychological tale of a woman who gives up her husband and son for the sake of an affair with a handsome army officer. It has humour but, as with all of Tolstoy's works, it is completely without sentimentality

I just love this classic romance about a married mother who succumbs to an unsuitable lover and becomes pregnant by him, which of course results in all sorts of pressures and heartache. The best love story ever told (Kay Burley)

Probably one of the greatest novelistic treatments of the torments of love

Thank you for correcting the translation mistake.

This version is Louise Maude and Aylmer Maude's translation and it is very good! Translations in Russian literature are vital so thank you Audible for correcting the translation mistake right away (this was previously listed as Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's translation).

Excellent reader

Tamaryn Payne is the best reader I’ve ever encountered. Truly made a great book even more magnificent.

Brilliant performance.

A brilliant performance by narrator Tamaryn Payne. I was extremely moved by many of the passages and how they were portrayed. Well done.

Great storytelling and true humanity

Humanity does not change. Our relationship problems have been the same since the dawn of humanity.

a story of life and the hardships in it

I didn’t hate a single character—only felt pity at times, which speaks to Tolstoy’s masterful use of nuance and humanity. His portrayal of flawed people felt real and empathetic. The narration was strong and engaging, bringing the story to life without distraction. A moving and thought-provoking listen.