Sonya

An orphan in the Rostov household

BOOK ONE

Book 1, Part 1

Chapter 8

The count’s fifteen-year-old niece comes into the drawing room with Natasha and the other children.

Chapter 9

Here, we learn that Sonya adores her cousin Nikolai. She is a “slender little brunette” who has something of a “half-grown kitten” about her looks and demeanour. And she does not like how Nikolai smiles at Julie Karagina.

Chapter 10

In the conservatory, Nikolai consoles an angry and upset Sonya and seals it with a kiss. He wants to prove his love, but Sonya says she doesn’t like him to talk like that.

Chapter 15

Behind her smile, she is “tormented by jealousy” with the intimacy between Nikolai and Julie Karagin at Natasha’s party.

Chapter 17

Natasha finds her sobbing on a chest in the passage, “the place of mourning.” Vera has told her that their mother will never allow her to marry Nikolai. And that he cares only for Julie. Natasha comforts her and reassures her that it is “quite possible”.