Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer, is best known for his novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878). Although the world’s greatest novelist was a courageous man, he made a difference in the world using intelligence and kindness, instead of aggression and force. By his example, Leo Tolstoy showed that boys do cry, they can express their feelings, nurture others, and embrace everything they love. Leo Tolstoy’s heart responded with pain and excitement to almost everything — whether it were poems and prose by fellow-writers or hunger in the surrounding villages, not to mention family affairs. Through the crystal prism of tears, Katya Gushchina shows us a multifaceted world in which Leo Tolstoy created his groundbreaking novels.