Doctor Zhivago (1958)

Yuri Zhivago's medical work, love and writing are repeatedly reorganised by revolution and civil war. The changing regime becomes a lived problem of travel, shelter, requisition and the right to keep a private life. Read it for the experience of being claimed by history while trying to remain a person. A long, lyrical historical novel whose names, relationships and movements require attention; Pasternak's interpretation is a deeply personal literary response to the upheaval.