War & Peace Podnotes, A Study Guide

The action moves from St. Petersburg to Moscow, to the home of another wealthy family, the Rostovs, who will be followed throughout the novel.Count Rostov, a pleasant sort, is welcoming guests and inviting them to partake in a grand dinner. He delights in calling everyone, regardless of social rank, "my dear."So far, it is party after party in the first few chapters, the "Peace" in War & Peace - but the talk at the high society event turns to the threat of war on the horizon.Leading the discussion is Princess Anna Drubetskaya, a relation of the Rostovs. Her son Boris, who she got into the Imperial Guard through working her old connections, grew up, for long periods, within the Rostov household. Boris is a teenager - somewhere around 15-18 (though there are inconsistencies with the ages). The women are talking about more local matters; namely that Pierre's father, the elderly Count Kirill Bezukhov is very ill and a special doctor has been called. He is thought to be on death's door.