Sonya, go away! Sophia Tolstaya: the view of a man and a woman. A novel-dialogue

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy's wife, Sophia Andreevna (1844—1919), became a legendary figure in her own right during her husband's lifetime. Newspapers wrote about her, the pioneer of Russian cinema Alexander Drankov filmed her, and her image was captured in the first artistic films about the life of the "great Leo." Even today, her figure attracts biographers, filmmakers, and theater figures. She lived with Tolstoy for almost half a century, gave birth to thirteen children, and was his loyal companion and literary assistant. However, it was precisely because of the conflict with his wife that Tolstoy fled from Yasnaya Polyana in 1910. Writer and journalist, winner of the "Big Book" award Pavel Basinsky decided to write a book about Sophia Tolstaya in an unusual format — online dialogues with the poet and prose writer from St. Petersburg, Ekaterina Barbanaga. Two perspectives — a man’s and a woman’s. Two points of view on the fate of the great wife of a great writer. The appendix publishes little-known texts by S. A. Tolstaya and essays about her by Vlas Doroshevich and Maxim Gorky.