Sophia Tolstaya

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Countess Sophia Andreyevna Tolstaya, a renowned Russian diarist, was born in 1844 and lived until 1919. She was the devoted wife of celebrated author Leo Tolstoy. The Tolstoys had a large family with thirteen children, eight of whom reached adulthood. Their comfortable lifestyle was secured by Tolstoy's shrewd management of his properties and the steady sale of his writings, allowing them to provide well for their growing family. Sophia played a crucial role as the copyist of War and Peace, while also taking up photography in 1887. Over a thousand photographs captured her life and the gradual decline of the pre-Soviet Russian Empire. Her personal experiences with Leo Tolstoy were documented in a series of diaries that were later translated into English in the 1980s. In addition to these diaries, Sophia wrote her memoirs under the title My Life. As their marriage grew increasingly strained - Tolstoy wanted to give away all his private property - Leo left Sophia abruptly in 1910 at the age of eighty-two and passed away soon after. After Leo's death, Sophia remained in Yasnaya Polyana and weathered the Russian Revolution with relative peace.