The Long Exile

Written by Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by Cathy Dobson

Leo Tolstoy is widely recognized as one of the world's greatest novelists and short story writers and a master of realistic fiction. He is equally known for his complex and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, developed following a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became known for his deep moral thinking and social reforms.

In the Long Exile, Tolstoy tells the story of a man who is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, but who gradually becomes aware that the experience has been sent to bring him closer to God and prepare him for the next life. After twenty-six years in prison, a crisis occurs. A new convict arrives, who turns out to be the real perpetrator of the crime for which our prisoner was wrongly convicted. Moreover, our prisoner has an opportunity to have his nemesis punished. This moral dilemma is the axis on which the story turns.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Door Consulting
• Release date: Jun 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781467681834

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a Russian author of novels, short stories, novellas, plays, and philosophical essays. He was born into an aristocratic family and served as an officer in the Russian military during the Crimean War before embarking on a career as a writer and activist. Tolstoy’s experience in war, combined with his interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, led him to devote his life and work to the cause of pacifism. In addition to such fictional works as War and Peace (1869), Anna Karenina (1877), and The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), Tolstoy wrote The Kingdom of God is Within You (1893), a philosophical treatise on nonviolent resistance which had a profound impact on Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. He is regarded today not only as one of the greatest writers of all time, but as a gifted and passionate political figure and public intellectual whose work transcends Russian history and literature alike.