<P>Tolstoy's epic novel <I>War and Peace</I> deals with some of the most momentous events of 19th-century Europe reaching a climax in the French invasion of Russia. However although war and rumours of it cast a shadow over all the characters' lives the chief concern of the author was the private emotions and actions of the Russian nobility. In the early part of the story Pierre Bezuhov the self-tormenting hero searches for a meaning to life but finds it empty whilst for Natasha Rostov life and love hold endless promise.</P>