Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Tolstoy clashed with its editor Mikhail Katkov over political issues that arose in the final installment (Tolstoys unpopular views of volunteers going to Serbia) therefore the novels first complete appearance was in book form. Widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction Tolstoy considered Anna Karenina his first true novel when he came to consider War and Peace to be more than a novel. Soon after meeting Pushkin at a dinner Tolstoy began reading his prose and once had a fleeting daydream of a bare exquisite aristocratic elbow which proved to be the first indication of Annas character. -wikipedia