The Awakening
by Leo Tolstoy
- Reading level
- Plain English
- Price
- Free
About the book
"The Awakening" by Leo Tolstoy is a novel published in 1899. A nobleman serving on a jury recognizes the defendant—a prostitute accused of murder—as a young woman he seduced and abandoned years earlier. Confronting his guilt, he attempts to help her as she faces exile to Siberia. His journey exposes him to a hidden world of injustice, cruelty, and human suffering beneath his privileged existence. The novel critiques Russian society, man-made laws, and institutional hypocrisy while exploring one man's search for redemption.
- Russia
- Forgiveness
Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #17352. The Awakening on Wikipedia.
