Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya

A sharp-elbowed impoverished princess

BOOK ONE

Book 1, Part 1

4 Jan: Chapter 4

One of the “best families in Russia” but now poor and without influential connections. Anna Mikhailovna has lost her looks, but none of her spirits, and has come to Anna Pavlovna’s soirée to further her son’s career in the military. She is relentless in securing a promise from Prince Vasili to talk to the emperor on her behalf.

7 Jan: Chapter 7

She has succeeded in getting her Borenka transferred to the Semyonov Guards with the rank of cornet. Now she is Moscow for the name-day of the two Natalias of the Rostov household. She seems especially interested in the fate of the dying Count Bezukhov with his “forty thousand serfs and millions of rubles.” It is of absolutely no concern of hers that the count is her mother’s second cousin and Boris’s godfather. Or that Prince Vasili, like a flapping vulture, has arrived in Moscow looking for carrion.

8 Jan: Chapter 8

The polite way she walks to her son seems to suggest a very different type of relationship to all the animation in the Rostov household. But then again, they are guests, and it is Natasha’s name-day.

11 Jan: Chapter 11

“I get what I want”, she tells Countess Rostova. There has been a ruinous lawsuit and many visits to important people. She gives a very creative account of her interview with Prince Vasili, a man “overflowing with amiability” apparently. She will do anything for her Borya, and right now, she’s got her eye of five hundred rubles to equip him for the army.

12 Jan: Chapter 12

Let us all marvel at her ability to put on “an expression of profound sorrow” at the drop of a hat. Her son smiles at her acting skills; he has seen it all before. She is determined to get her foot in the door and talk to the dying Count Bezukhov, whom she affectionately calls her Uncle and Boris’s godson.

13 Jan: Chapter 13

She has seen the count, but “he hardly recognises anybody!” Handkerchief pressed to her tearful eyes, she tells her son that everything depends on the will. “He is so rich, and we are so poor!”

14 Jan: Chapter 14

It is a poignant moment. She clearly hoped her rich friend would give her money for Boris’s outfit, which is why she mentioned it. But despite the sorrowful business of money, “they were friends” and “kind-hearted”, and this “base” business reminds them they are no longer young.

18 Jan: Chapter 18

In this chapter, we learn that last winter, she spoke with Count Bezukhov. Katiche says she spoke ill of her younger sister Sophie, and that later the count re-wrote his will in favour of Pierre.

19 Jan: Chapter 19

Anna Mikhailovna considers it “necessary” to accompany Pierre to his father’s and appears to use him as a means to get herself into the count’s room. “Be a man”, she tells Pierre, as she claims to watch over his “interests”.

20 Jan: Chapter 20

In the count’s room, she continues to direct Pierre while maintaining her “meek, sorrowful, and all-forgiving expression”.

21 Jan: Chapter 21

Anna Mikhailovna goes into battle with Katiche and wins. It is no contest, really. The inlaid portfolio containing the will is in her hands when Count Bezukhov breathes his last. And she is quick to remind Pierre of the count’s promises concerning her son. The next day, she is busy spreading her fictitious version of Count Bezukhov’s last moment with Pierre.

22 Jan: Chapter 22

Julie Karagin calls Anna Mikhailovna the “universal auntie” and it is from her, under the “seal of strict secrecy”, that Julie learns of the plans to wed Anatole Vasili to Marya Bolkonskaya.

Book 1, Part 3

21 Feb: Chapter 6

Her circumstances have improved, but she is still living with the Rostovs, and she "always knew everything that passed in the house". Finding out the news about Nikolai, she takes it upon herself to tell the countess.

Book 2, Part 5

26 May: Chapter 5

Anna Mikhailovna is her son’s wingman in the courtship of Julia Karagina, paying her compliments and prodding Boris into proposing.

29 May: Chapter 8

At the opera, she sits with Boris and Julie’s box, beneath her incredible green head dress, with a studied ‘happy look of resignation to the will of God on her face.