"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," writes Tolstoy in his literary masterpiece Anna Karenina. Commonly regarded as one of the greatest realist novels ever written, Tolstoy himself saw it as his first true novel. The novel was not well received by critics when first published, but Tolstoy's fellow Russian greats all considered it a great work of art.
2. East of Eden
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Charles Dickens', A Tale of Two Cities, begins with these famous words. On the eve of the French Revolution of 1789, the story follows Charles Darney, a French aristocrat-turned-revolutionary, and Sydney Carton, a purposeless British lawyer in love with Darney's wife, Lucie. Sydney's love for Lucie inspires him to join the Revolution alongside his friend Darney, at a time when both
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