Over a hundred years ago, something truly outrageous occurred at Yasnaya Polyana. Count Leo Tolstoy, a famous author aged eighty-two at the time, took off, destination unknown. Since then, the circumstances surrounding the writer’s whereabouts during his final days and his eventual death have given rise to many myths and legends. In this book, popular Russian writer and reporter Pavel Basinsky delves into the archives and presents his interpretation of the situation prior to Leo Tolstoy’s mysterious disappearance. Basinsky follows Leo Tolstoy throughout his life, right up to his final moments. Reconstructing the story from historical documents, he creates a visionary account of the events that led to the Tolstoys’ family drama. Flight from Paradise will be of particular interest to international researchers studying Leo Tolstoy’s life and works, and is highly recommended to a broader audience worldwide. Pavel Basinsky Paul Basinskiy is a well-known Russian writer and literary critic. He is a member of the Union of Russian Writers and the Academy of Russian contemporary literature. He is also an active member of the permanent jury for the Solzhenitsyn award. Basinskiy was born in 1961 in Frolovo, in the Volgograd region. In 1986 he graduated from the Literary Institute (Department of literary criticism), then applied for a PhD there and wrote a thesis on Gorky and Nietzsche. Since 1981, Paul Basinskiy has had works of literary criticism published in various magazines. He currently teaches at the Literary Institute, works as an editor at Rossiyskaya Gazeta and is a member of the jury for the Yasnaya Polyana literary award. For his book Leo Tolstoy: Flight From Paradise, Pavel Basinskiy was awarded the Big Book National Literary Prize.