At the age of fifty, Tolstoy (1828-1910) had written War and Peace and Anna Karenina, the novels that ensured his immortality. He was a husband and father of many children and possessed immense wealth. He was “a happy man” with wonderful health. And yet, his life had lost all meaning...

The Confession is the shocking autobiographical testimony of a crisis familiar and recognizable to many people. This text records Tolstoy's despair and alienation from the world, his desperate attempt to find answers to the simplest questions of life, and the beginning of a passionate spiritual quest “for a religion that would not promise future bliss but that, through its application in practice, would offer happiness on earth.”

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]