Natasha Rostova
The youngest of the Rostov daughters
Also known as Natalia. Not to be confused with her mother.
BOOK ONE
Book 1, Part 1
7 Jan: Chapter 7
It is St Natalia’s Day, and she and her mother are celebrating their name day.
8 Jan: Chapter 8
Black-eyed, wide-mouthed and “full of life”, thirteen-year-old Natasha runs into the story with a doll folded into her dress. She is so evidently adored and indulged in by her parents. Her laughter fills the room. When she leaves the room, Boris and Petya follow.
9 Jan: Chapter 9
“A regular volcano”, the count calls Natasha. A human fireball. They admit they have spoiled her and been very lenient. “But really that seems the best plan,” says the countess.
10 Jan: Chapter 10
In the conservatory, she dons her “cap of invisibility” and hides in her ambush, savouring the romance of her brother and Sonya. She wishes Boris to make similar gestures of undying love, but one gets the sense it is from a childish joy and not a real love of Boris.
11 Jan: Chapter 11
Natasha is full of contradictions. She is feeling “kind and affectionate to everyone” on this special day. But at the same time, she is irritated with the “diplomat” Boris and her older sister Vera: “your greatest pleasure is to be unpleasant to people!”
15 Jan: Chapter 15
Here she is at her name-day party! Beaming with pleasure. Marya Dmitrievna calls her “my Cossack” and gives her some ruby-earings. She’s clearly having a fabulous time.
16 Jan: Chapter 16
“Flushed with reckless and joyous resolution”, she goes into battle against Marya Dmitrievna, le terrible dragon, in the brave cause of finding out the pudding situation. And with a glance, she invites Pierre to join in her game.
17 Jan: Chapter 17
How our little heroine flits between childishness and maturity! Comforting her cousin with compassion and delighting in “dancing with a grown-up man, who had been broad.” That fat and funny Pierre. And while she is playing at being grownup, she is loving how her father is playing at being young again.
Book 1, Part 3
21 Feb: Chapter 6
"Who of the whole family was the most gifted with a capacity to feel any shades of intonation, look, and expression." She surmises that there is news of her brother and gets the news out of Anna Mikhailovna. She promises not to tell anyone and goes and tells Sonya. Natasha tells Sonya she remembers Nikolai perfectly, but "I don't remember Boris." She sees Sonya loves her brother and sees there is such a love. "She believed it could be, but did not understand it."
BOOK TWO
Book 2, Part 1
7 Mar: Chapter 1
Natasha hugs and kisses her dear brother, who is back alive from the war. She also hugs and kisses “Darling Denisov,” which “made everybody feel confused.”
Next day, she and the other children go to wake up Rostov and Denisov. They see a little more of Denisov than is proper, and then she speaks privately with Nikolai. She expresses her love for Sonya, explaining that she burned herself to show her love. She says her love for Boris was “nonsense” and she doesn’t want to marry, once dance!
16 Mar: Chapter 10
Natasha is the only Rostov with the measure of Dolokhov: “He is wicked and heartless.”
17 Mar: Chapter 10
She is delighted to present her brother with the news that Dolokhov has been turned down by Sonya.
18 Mar: Chapter 12
Natasha at Iogel’s ball: “Natasha fell in love the very moment she entered the ballroom. She was not in love with anyone in particular, but with everyone. Whatever person she happened to look at, she was in love with for that moment.”
She drags Denisov onto the dancefloor and they do the mazurka like this moment is all that matters. Afterwards, she is breathless. “What is this?” she asks of the universe.
21 Mar: Chapter 15
When Nikolai returns from losing at cards, Natasha is with the rest of the family, grouped around the clavichord. Denisov is composing a song, and everyone is coaxing Natasha to sing. She no longer sings like a child, but with an untrained beauty and “an unconsciousness of her own powers.” Nikolai is entranced by the beauty of her voice.
22 Mar: Chapter 16
Natasha tells her mother that Denisov has proposed to her. “Nonsense,” says the countess. Natasha said it happened accidentally, but she wants to be the one who speaks to Denisov.
Book 2, Part 3
14 Apr: Chapter 2
Andrei visits Ilya Rostov on business at his house at Otradnoe. Rostov is living in the country as he always does: extravagantly, entertaining everyone with hunts, theatricals, dinners, and music. Andrei is struck by Natasha’s happiness: “Why is she so happy?” On a beautiful moonlit night, he overhears Sonya and Natasha looking at the moon. Natasha would like to fly to it. The scene stirs “youthful thoughts and hopes” in Andrei.
24 Apr: Chapter 12
Natasha is tormented by a promise she prised out of Boris four years ago. Boris has been living his life in prose, in his colourless climb up the social ladder. But Natasha is “his most poetic recollection”, and when he goes to visit the Rostovs, he is “disturbed and confused” by a much-changed Natasha. Against his better judgement, he keeps returning, spending whole days with the Rostovs.
25 Apr: Chapter 13
The two Natashas (mother and daughter) talk in bed. The mother worries about her daughter’s honour and future marriage prospects if she continues to flirt with Boris. Natasha says it does not have to be for love and marriage, ‘but just so’. She describes the colours and shapes of Boris and Pierre's souls. Her mother and Sonya wouldn’t understand, she thinks. She dreams of being admired and then falls asleep, ‘where everything was as light and beautiful, as in reality, and even more so because it was different.’ The next day, her mother tells Boris to stop visiting the Rostovs.
26 Apr: Chapter 14
It is New Year’s Eve, 1809, and Natasha is going to her first ball. She’s been up since eight getting everyone dressed, but it is ten in the evening, and they are still not ready. The delay is mostly caused by Natasha’s dress, which is too long. The resourceful Dunyasha comes to the rescue with needle and thread.
27 Apr: Chapter 15
We see the ballroom from Natasha’s eyes, her heart racing and her reflection blurred into “one brilliant procession.” The elderly Peronskaya points out the most important people there, including Hélène and her husband, the universal Freemason Pierre Bezukhov. He is on his way to introduce Natasha to dancing partners but stops to talk to Andrei. “Too proud for anything,” says Peronskaya of Andrei. They are the only two men she dislikes, and the only two that Natasha notices.
28 Apr: Chapter 16
The Emperor enters, and the guests dance the polonaise. Natasha fears no one will ask her to dance – Boris turns away twice, and Anatole looks at her “as one looks at a wall.” She is left chatting with Berg and Vera, who, of course, don’t dance. Then Pierre approaches an “animated and bright” Andrei and introduces him to Natasha. We learn that Andrei not only likes dancing but is good at it. And when he dances with Natasha, the “wine of her charm” goes straight to his head.
29 Apr: Chapter 17
Natasha is having a ball. Everyone wants to dance with her now, and she is happy and loves everybody. Andrei is smitten and predicts she will be married to someone within a month, perhaps even him. In contrast, Pierre is in a gloomy mood. For the first time, he feels humiliated by Hélène. Natasha wishes to help him, but she cannot understand why anyone can be unhappy tonight.
1 May: Chapter 19
Andrei visits the Rostov house, where he is welcomed simply and cordially like an “old friend.” It is like arriving on a “strange world” previously unknown to him, and as Natasha sings, he realises he is crying. She asks him whether he likes her voice and immediately feels she should not have said this. But he says he likes her voice and everything she does.
3 May: Chapter 21
Pierre notices the effect Andrei and Natasha are having on each other, and feels both pain and joy to see it. Vera decides her party requires “subtle allusions to the tender passions”, so she asks Andrei what he thinks of Natasha.
4 May: Chapter 22
Andrei dines with the Rostovs. Natasha confides in her mother, both frightened about what is happening. Natasha decides it is fate and convinces herself it was love at first sight.
5 May: Chapter 23
Natasha waits in agony for three weeks before Andrei returns. She accepts his proposal, and they kiss. Simultaneously, their feelings change, and both become more serious. Natasha thinks a year is “awful” and “impossible, " but accepts it must be so.
6 May: Chapter 24
Andrei visits the Rostovs regularly, but the betrothal is kept secret. The betrothed couple gets to know one another and finds common ground. Andrei tells Natasha to confide in Pierre, who "is a most absent-minded and absurd fellow" but with a "heart of gold." Andrei remembers his parting with Natasha for a long time afterwards. For the next two weeks, Natasha becomes quiet and withdrawn. When she returns to normal, something subtly changes in her character.
Book 2, Part 4
9 May: Chapter 1
Nikolai thinks Natasha does not seem like a girl in love, and their mother also has doubts about the marriage. Natasha describes herself as “at peace and contented” and of Andrei, “no better man than he exists.”
11 May: Chapter 3
It is mid-September, and the weather is perfect for hunting. Nikolai consults with the head huntsman, Danilo, a man disdainful of everyone. Just before they set off, Natasha and Petya arrive and demand to come too. “It is my greatest pleasure,” says Natasha Rostova.
12 May: Chapter 4
The count joins the hunt, and they run into Uncle, a distant relative and neighbour of the Rostovs. Like Nikolai, Uncle clearly disapproves of the presence of Natasha and Petya.
14 May: Chapter 6
The count goes home, and the hunting party chase a fox. A rival hunt led by Ilagin take the fox and Nikolai expects a fight. But Ilagin is courteous and friendly and the two hunts join together to chase hares on Ilagin’s uplands. The rivals race their expensive dogs but are both beaten by Uncle’s borzoi. In the confusion, Natasha lets out a wild, joyous and ecstatic shriek.
15 May: Chapter 7
Uncle invites them back to his cabin, where his housekeeper lays on a feast, and his coachman Mitka strikes up a tune on the balalaika. The siblings are children again and are swept up by the enchanting atmosphere. Uncle plays his guitar, and Natasha dances the shawl dance perfectly. On the ride home, they laugh and sing, happy and in love.
16 May: Chapter 8
In Rome, Andrei’s wound has re-opened, and Natasha falls into a depressive state, feeling sorry for herself and the time she has wasted.
17 May: Chapter 9
It is Christmastide, and the house should be full of festive joy. But for Natasha, everything feels dull and the same. She takes out her tedium on the servants and behaves like a capricious tyrant in her island kingdom. ‘Oh, if only he would come quicker!’ she says. ‘I am so afraid it will never be!’
18 May: Chapter 10
Nikolai and Natasha share ‘poetic, youthful’ memories, while Sonya struggles to keep pace. Natasha sings and Petya announces the mummers. They all dress up and set off to one of their neighbours.
20 May: Chapter 12
On the ride home, Nikolai tells Natasha he has made his decision about marrying Sonya. Natasha and Sonya prepare for bed and sit up with Dunyasha and two looking-glasses. They look in them to see some sort of vision, and all believe Sonya has seen something (even though she hasn’t). She begins to believe it herself and tells Natasha she has seen Andrei lying down, cheerful and then ‘something blue and red.’
20 May: Chapter 13
After Christmas, Natasha intervenes in the row between her parents and Nikolai, preventing a more serious rupture in the family. In January, the count goes to Moscow to sell his townhouse. He takes the girls. Natasha believes Andrei may already be in Moscow.
Book 2, Part 5
27 May: Chapter 6
In Moscow, Count Rostov, Natasha and Sonya come to stay with le dragon terrible, Marya Dmitrievna. She takes the girls under her wing to ‘scold them a bit, and pet them a bit.’ We learn that she thinks highly of the Bolkonskys and has been asked by Marya to bring the two future sisters-in-law together. To that end, Natasha and her father are to visit the Bolkonsky house tomorrow.
28 May: Chapter 7
The count and Natasha visit the Bolkonskys. Ilya Rostov is afraid and makes his excuses to avoid an encounter with the terrifying prince. An optimistic Natasha and a nervous Marya have a stilted conversation in the obstructive presence of Mademoiselle Bourienne. The two women are united in forming negative opinions of each other based on appearances. Later, Sonya comforts a sobbing Natasha and Marya Dmitrievna pretends not to notice Natasha’s distress.
29 May: Chapter 8
That same evening, Mary Dmitrievna takes the Rostovs to the opera. There, we see the betrothed Julie and Boris, his mother and her head-dress. Dolokhov is back, styling himself as ‘The Persian’ and turning heads with his pal Anatole. Natasha finds all the attention ‘agreeable’ and ‘disagreeable’ and is distracted by an enchanting Hélène.
30 May: Chapter 9
Natasha watches the opera in amazement; it all seems ‘so pretentiously false and unnatural’ to her. Anatole appears in uniform and looks splendid. Hélène offers to ‘amuse’ the Rostov girls in Moscow and invites Natasha into her box. Under the Kuragin spell, everything, including the bad opera, no longer appears strange but delightful.
31 May: Chapter 10
With a ‘whiff of cold air’, Anatole joins Natasha in Hélène’s box. She feels his proximity intensely and his eyes on her. He invites her to a party at the Kuragins and all she notices of the rest of the performance is a sort of devil falling through a trapdoor. At home, alone, she cannot fathom whether something terrible has happened, or nothing at all.
2 June: Chapter 12
Hélène visits, compliments Natasha and invites her to Mademoiselle Georges’ recitation. She tells Natasha that Anatole is ‘madly in love’ with her. While Marya Dmitrievna doesn’t care for Bezukhova, she tells Natasha to go and ‘divert your thoughts.’
3 June: Chapter 13
Count Rostov chaperones his daughter at Helene's party, planning to leave as soon as Mademoiselle George's performance is over. But Natasha insists on staying. She dances with Anatole and left alone in a small sitting room, he kisses her. She leaves with her father, not staying for supper, returning home to a sleepless night filled with terrible questions.
4 June: Chapter 14
The next day, Natasha receives two letters. The first is a despairing message from Marya, tormented by the thought that Natasha thinks Marya doesn’t like her. The second is a love letter from Anatole, ghostwritten by Dolokhov. ‘My fate has been sealed: to be loved by you or to die.’ Meanwhile, Marya Dmitrievna advises Natasha to return to Otradnoe and await Andrei there.
5 June: Chapter 15
Sonya finds Anatole’s letter and asks Natasha about it. They argue and afterwards, Natasha writes to Marya to inform the Bolkonskys of her wish to be free of her engagement to Andrei. She meets Anatole again and Sonya begins to suspect that Natasha is planning to elope with Kuragin. She vows to guard the passage to protect Natasha and the family’s honour.
8 June: Chapter 18
Marya Dmitrievna had found Sonya in the passage and intercepted the note to Natasha. After thwarting the abduction, she chastises Natasha in the strongest terms. She resolves to keep the news from the count to avoid a duel, and Natasha sinks into despair. When the count returns, he sees something has happened but decides to accept Marya Dmitrievna’s explanation that Natasha has been ill.
9 June: Chapter 19
Marya Dmitrievna requests to see Pierre and tells him the situation in confidence. Pierre struggles to understand but agrees to get Anatole to leave Moscow to prevent a duel with Andrei, Nikolai or the count. The count still knows nothing. Pierre tells Natasha that Anatole is already married. Unable to speak, she makes a sign for everyone to leave her alone.
11 June: Chapter 21
The night after Natasha learns of Anatole’s marriage, she attempts suicide with arsenic. Andrei asks Pierre to return Natasha’s items and to tell her she is ‘perfectly free.’ He adds that he knows she should be forgiven, but he cannot forgive her. Pierre observes the contempt the Bolkonskys have for the Rostovs.
12 June: Chapter 22
Pierre goes to the Rostovs, and Natasha asks to see him. She says she knows it is all over but wants Andrei to forgive her. Pierre’s judgement of Natasha melts away, and feeling sorry for her, he tells her he is her friend, and she has her whole life ahead of her. ‘If I were not myself,’ he says, he would ask for her love.
BOOK THREE
Book 3, Part 1
29 June: Chapter 16
Natasha has been seriously ill. Her whole family has moved into their house in Moscow, where many expensive doctors are brought in to diagnose and treat the patient. Tolstoy dismisses the efficacy of medicine but recognises its psychological importance to Natasha and her family. In the summer of 1812 the family remain in Moscow, and ‘youth prevails’: Natasha gradually recovers.
30 June: Chapter 17
Natasha is calmer but no happier. All joy is gone, and she only finds comfort in the companionship of her brother Petya, and with Pierre. But she is convinced Bezukhov only acts out of universal kindness and pity towards her sad state. Natasha accompanies a neighbour to regular mass to prepare for Holy Communion. She is taken by a religious zeal that gives her a sense of a ‘new, clean life, and of happiness.’
1 July: Chapter 18
On Sunday 12 July, the Rostovs attend mass. It is a bright, hot day, and Natasha feels watched by passersby. She finds herself judged and judging others and horrified by 'her own vileness.' But she is comforted by her prayers for friends and enemies. A special prayer for Russia and against the French invasion moves her and she prays to God to forgive everyone, and forgive her, and give all peace and happiness.
3 July: Chapter 20
Pierre at the Rostovs. Natasha is singing again and wants to know whether Pierre approves. Pierre wants to tell Natasha he loves her but instead says he must visit less often, and leaves early.
They looked at each other with dismayed and embarrassed faces. He tried to smile but could not: his smile expressed suffering, and he silently kissed her hand and went out.
Book 3, Part 1
Chapter 12
As the Rostovs pack to leave Moscow, Natasha basks in her brother Petya’s adoration, their spirits high because something extraordinary is happening.
Chapter 13
Petya is not at home, so Natasha is bored. She has her ball dress out and is feeling listless. When the wounded men arrive, she comes out and tells them that they have shelter in their house. Afterwards, she goes to her parents to get their permission.
Chapter 14
Natasha now puts her all into packing, helping make more space and setting aside unnecessary things.
Chapter 15
Her parents argue about taking the wounded with them, and Natasha intervenes but her father shouts at her.
Chapter 16
Natasha compares their lack of generosity to Berg’s request for a cart and ‘despicable Germans.’ She goes with Petya to convince her parents to help the wounded. They agree, and everyone works in earnest to unpack the carts and make space.
Chapter 17
The Rostovs leave Moscow. On the way out of the city, Natasha spots Pierre. He is in disguise, and she says it is splendid that he is staying. She would do the same if she were a man.
Chapter 31
The old valet tells the Rostovs of the fire, and they go out to see Moscow burning. When Natasha is told, she does not seem to notice. That morning, Sonya had told her that Andrei was with them and wounded. Now, she is preparing herself to see him. When everyone else has fallen asleep, she goes to him, terrified of what she might find. He smiles and holds out his hand.
Chapter 32
Natasha asks Andrei for forgiveness. From then on, Natasha cared for Andrei and never left his side.
BOOK FOUR
Book 4, Part 1
Chapter 8
Natasha is caring for Andrei. She tells Sonya that she is happy and unhappy. ‘Sonya, my darling, everything is as it used to be. If only he lives!’
Chapter 14
Natasha tells Marya that two days ago, something terrible happened to Andrei, and his condition became much worse.
Chapter 15
Marya notes how Andrei speaks coldly of Natasha.
Chapter 16
Two days previously, Andrei was lying in bed when Natasha came in silently and began knitting. They say they love each other. But after Andrei sleeps, he is much changed, and Natasha sees the ‘terrible moral symptoms’ of death. When he dies, she and Marya cry with ‘a reverent and softening emotion.’
Book 4, Part 4
Chapter 1
After Andrei’s death, Marya and Natasha’s grief brings them together. But while Natasha is stuck reliving her last days with Andrei, Marya’s responsibilities pull her back to life. She takes care of her nephew and their return to the Bolkonsky house in Moscow. Natasha regrets what she said and did not say to Andrei before he died, and as she tries to penetrate the mystery of death, news comes concerning her brother Petya.
Chapter 2
In her isolation, Natasha first disregards the news of ‘a misfortune’ in the family. But on encountering her weak weeping father, she goes to help her mother, in a shrieking and violent delirium. Countess Rostova refuses to believe the news of her son’s death. For three nights, Natasha stays with her mother and on the third night, Countess Rostova finally begins to cry.
Chapter 3
For three weeks Natasha remains at her mother’s side. Petya’s death inflicted a spiritual wound on his mother that never healed; Natasha’s role as her mother’s companion re-awakens her love and life. In the following weeks and months, she and Marya become close friends. Natasha grows thin and weak but her vital force heals her wound within. In January, Marya, Natasha and the count travel to Moscow.