Lev and Sonya: The Story of the Tolstoy Marriage

Tolstoy was in his thirties and already somewhat famous when he married a barely 18 year old Sonya Bers. The marriage lasted 48 years and produced 13 children. Sonya was a woman before her time. She took care of everything involving the management of their daily life (household, properties, children, even proofing and recopying his manuscripts and seeing to his every need) so that he could devote all of his attention to his craft. I'm sure she (and her family) was not only an inspiration for characters in his book, but probably had a lot to do with the fact that he wrote such rich female characters. They both wrote extensively in their diaries and they both read what each other wrote. They ached for each other physically.