Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Sonya Andreyevna Behrs (1844—1919) and Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828—1910) were married in 1862 and lived together in stormy and passionate matrimony for 48 years. For the first 25 years Sonya lived in practically non-stop motherhood: there were 13 children, eight of whom lived to maturity. The Tolstoys were all voluminous and opinionated writers of diaries, notebooks, and letters. Ms. Edwards has made extensive use of these. They are the major props of this partisan biography, which, while showing Sonya's many faults and weaknesses, also stresses her unflagging devotion to and untiring labors for an increasingly difficult and disagreeable man of genius. This is a substantial and fascinating book, but it is marred by its style, which is gushy, mediocre, and sentimental. Perhaps some of these qualities were caught from her subject; perhaps they can be found too in her other biographies, Judy Garland and Vivien Leigh." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)