Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 6

Characters Present:

Anna Pávlovna

Boris Drubetskóy

Prince Vasíli Kuragin

Location:

Anna Pávlovna's house, Petersburg

Anna Pávlovna is holding another soiree with the cream of Russian society.  They gossip mostly about Pierre, and how he has once again fallen out of favour.   

Boris is the star of the moment, having risen through the ranks despite his lack of money, and Anna Pávlovna steers the conversation so that he becomes the centre of it.  He speaks well, and the people enjoy the novelty of it all.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 5

Characters Present:

Count Pierre Bezukhov
Prince Vasíli Kuragin

Location:

Pierre's place in Petersburg

Vasíli goes to see Pierre to convince him to make amends with Hélèna.  Pierre stays silent for a time then firmly demands that Vasíli leaves.

Pierre takes leave of his new mason friends and everyone else he knows, and goes to visit his country estates. 

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 4

Characters Present:

Count Pierre Bezukhov
Freemasons

Location:

Petersburg

Pierre finishes the Masonic rituals.  He feels able to leave his old life of dodgy-ness behind him.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 3

Characters Present:

Count Pierre Bezukhov
Count Willarski

Location:

Petersburg

Count Willarski visits Pierre in Petersburg, and asks if Pierre would like his sponsorship to become a mason.

Pierre agrees and they go to the temple. Pierre begins the ritual to become a mason.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 2

Characters Present:

Joseph Alexéevich Bazdéev (Strange old man)
Count Pierre Bezukhov
Location: 

Moscow

The strange old man turns out to be Joseph Alexéevich Bazdéev, who is a prominent mason, thus the ring.  He invites Pierre to sit with him.

Pierre says that he has an life opposite to that of the masons, and the old man asks if he has found god.  Pierre replies that he is completely opposed to such notions, and Bazdéev looks piteously at him.

Bazdéev then goes on about god for ages, and Pierre starts to feel better about his life, and asks the old man for help and he is handed a letter to take to Count Willarski in Petersburg.

Volume 1: Book 5 - Chapter 1

Characters Present:

Count Pierre Bezukhov

Hélène Bezukhov

Strange Old Man

Location:

Moscow

Pierre finishes having a meeting with his wife Hélèna, and goes to the station to await a carriage to Petersburg. 

He is depressed and having some kind of existential crisis, and though he is unable to get a carriage straight away, he doesn't care if it arrives now or ever.   

Pierre moves to the waiting room and lays down on one of the leather couches. A strange old man wearing a deaths-head ring enters the room and sits opposite him.  Pierre is fascinated by his bright eyes.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 16

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv

Count Ilya Rostóv

Countess Natalya Rostova

Natasha Rostova

Vaska Denísov

Location:

The Rostov House

Count Ilya Rostóv arrives home, and Nicholas at first haughtily asks for the 43,000 rubles to pay back to Dólokhov, and then starts to beg and sob as his father starts to leave the room.  

In the meantime, Denísov accidentally proposes to Natasha, who runs off to ask advice from her mother, Countess Natalya Rostova.  The countess does not take it seriously at all, since Natasha is still so young and tells Denísov so, after both she and Natasha reject him.

Count Rostóv eventually raises the funds to pay his son's gambling debts to Dólokhov and Nicholas leaves to rejoin his regiment in Poland.

End of book 4

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 15

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv

Sonya Rostova

Natasha Rostova

Vaska Denísov

Location:

The Rostov House 

Nicholas returns home to find everyone in good spirits - Denísov is playing piano, and Natasha is looking at him adoringly. 

Sonya notes what a terrible mood Nicholas is in.  They are all concerned for about a minute, and then return to their gaiety. Natasha starts to sing.

Nicholas paces the room, waiting for his father to get home so he can ask for money, and wonders how anyone could be happy at such a time as this.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 14

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv
Fedor Ivanovich Dólokhov

Location:

The English Club

Rostóv and Dólokhov continue to play cards, and Dólokhov decides to take Rostóv's losings up to 43,000 rubles, which is the combined age of he and Sonya.

Dólokhov is successful in his endeavors, and asks Rostóv when he will hand the money over.  Rostóv asks for an IOU and Dólokhov remarks bitterly that Sonya is in love with Rostóv. 

Rostóv gets cranky and tells Dólokhov to leave his cousin out of it and says that he will pay the outstanding sum on the morrow.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 13

Characters Present: 

Nicholas Rostóv

Fedor Ivanovich Dólokhov

20 friends of Dólokhov

Location:

The English Club, Moscow

Nicholas Rostóv has been trying to get in touch with Fedor Ivanovich Dólokhov for some days, though Dólokhov has been avoiding him. Rostóv finally gets a note from Dólokhov, requesting his company at the English Club that evening.

Rostóv goes, and Dólokhov looks at him coldly and says that now that Sonya has rejected him, he will leave to rejoin his regiment

They play cards, and Dólokhov snidely taunts Rostóv into betting more than he can afford - 800 rubles of his 2000 ruble allowance, which he is supposed to use over the whole season.  Rostóv loses it.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 12

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv

Natasha Rostova

Sonya Rostova

Vaska Denísov

Iogel - a dance instructor and ball-arranger

Location: 

One of Iogel's balls in the ballroom at the Berzúkhov house (Moscow)

Nicholas, Natasha, Sonya and Vaska all attend a ball, thrown by Iogel, who by all accounts, hosts the best balls in Moscow. 

Vaska notes to Nicholas that his sister, Natasha, is quite beautiful as he watches her dancing.

A Polish dance called the "mazurka" starts, and Nicholas encourages Natasha to ask Vaska to dance, as he is famous for his execution of it.

Natasha and Vaska dance and he is so good at it  that Natasha looks at him in awe when it is over.  They spend the rest of the evening sitting together.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 11

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv

Sonya Rostova

Natasha Rostova

Fedor Ivanovich Dólokhov,

Location:

The Rostóv Home

Nicholas is to return to his regiment in under two weeks and has been out and about around Moscow.

 
He returns home for dinner to find an amorous tension over the house.  He finds out off Natasha that Dólokhov has asked Sonya to marry him and that she has refused him.

Nicholas goes to speak with Sonya and says that she shouldn't wait for him, for while he loves her now, he probably won't later, as there are many women he is likely to fall in love with.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 10

Characters Present:

Nicholas Rostóv 

Sonya Rostova

Natasha Rostova

Fedor Ivanovich Dólokhov

Location: 

Moscow

Dólokhov recovers from being shot by Pierre , as does his mother from being deathly ill.

Dólokhov and Nicholas Rostóv end up becoming good friends, and Dólokhov starts going to a lot of events that the Rostóvs are going to be in attendance at, as he seems to have fallen in love with Sonya Rostova. 

Nicholas tries to convince his sister Natasha Rostova that Dólokhov is not a bad person, but she cannot be convinced.

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 9

Characters Present:

Princess Lisa Bolkónskaya

Prince Andrew Bolkónski

Midwife Mary Bogdánovna  
A doctor from Moscow  
Prince Nicholas Andréevich
 

Location:

Bald Hill Estate

Prince Andrew goes into see his wife Princess Lisa between contractions and he is nicer to her than he has ever been. 

Prince Andrew leaves as some new contractions begin and he hears terrible animal moans, a scream and eventually the wail of a baby come from the other side of the door.  The nurse rushes out of the room without making eye-contact with him, and the doctor looks ashen-faced.  Princess Mary died in the final moments of birth. 

The funeral happens, and then the baptism for the baby, who is called "Prince Nicholas Andréevich".

Volume 1: Book 4 - Chapter 8

Characters Present:

Princess Lisa Bolkónskaya
Princess Mary Bolkónskaya
Midwife Mary Bogdánovna
A doctor from Moscow

Location:

Bald Hill Estate

Princess Lisa goes into labour in the morning and Princess Mary runs for the midwife.  Princess Lisa stays in labour all day and well into the night.  

Much to everyone's delight, a male voice inquiring after his father is heard from downstairs late in the evening - Prince Andrew has finally returned home.