Hadji Murád

A warrior who betrayed his own people to save his family. A novelist who could not stop thinking about him.

Leo Tolstoy's last major work is a novella of breathtaking power—a true story of a Caucasian rebel who defected to the Russians, then tried to defect back, and died for his trouble.

Hadji Murád was a real man: a legendary Avar commander who fought against the Russian Empire's expansion into the Caucasus. In 1851, after a feud with his own leader, he surrendered to the Russians. He hoped they would help him rescue his family from his enemy. They used him instead. When he realized he was trapped, he tried to flee back to the mountains. The Russians caught him. They cut off his head. Tolstoy, who had fought in the Caucasus as a young officer, never forgot him. He began writing the story in 1896 and worked on it intermittently until his death. The novella is Tolstoy's final meditation on power, violence, and the courage of a man who trusted no one and was betrayed by everyone.

This is Tolstoy at his most spare and devastating: a story about the brutality of empires, the loneliness of the rebel, and the strange, wild beauty of a man who refuses to bow. Hadji Murád is Tolstoy's farewell to literature—and it is perfect.

• Written between 1896 and 1904, published posthumously in 1912

• Based on historical events and a man Tolstoy had met during his service in the Caucasus in the 1850s

• Praised by modern writers, including Vladimir Nabokov (who called it "the greatest story ever written") and Harold Bloom

Available in multiple formats:

• Paperback & Hardcover: Beautifully designed print editions presenting the complete, unabridged text made to last.

• Ebook: DRM-free EPUB compatible with Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and all major e-readers.

• Audiobook: Professionally narrated, complete and unabridged, available on all major audiobook platforms.

A beautifully crafted edition for your shelf, your device, or your ears, or the perfect gift for anyone who knows that the bravest men are the ones who trust no one.

About the Author

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and moral philosopher, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in world literature. Born into Russian aristocracy, he served as an artillery officer in the Crimean War and later in the Caucasus, where he first encountered the man who would become Hadji Murat. Tolstoy began writing the novella in 1896, after his religious conversion, but struggled to complete it. He worked on it intermittently for nearly a decade, setting it aside to write other works. The novella was found among his papers after his death and published in 1912. It is unique in Tolstoy's canon for its sympathetic portrayal of a Muslim warrior fighting against the Russian Empire. Tolstoy, in his later years, had become a pacifist and anarchist, and Hadji Murád reflects his deep ambivalence about power, violence, and the Russian state. His other major works include War and Peace (1869), Anna Karenina (1877), and The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886). He died of pneumonia in 1910 at the Astapovo railway station, after fleeing his home in a desperate attempt to escape his fame and his family. He is buried at Yasnaya Polyana, his family estate.