March—great public trial opens of those (mainly women) arrested for propagandizing in the factories of Moscow (Trial of the 50). April—Russia declares war on Turkey. Hundreds of revolutionaries volunteer to fight with the Bulgarian partisans in the Balkans. October–January 1878—second great public trial (Trial of the 193), of those arrested for propagandizing in the villages.
Final chapters of Anna Karenina published in the Russian Herald, earning Tolstoy huge royalties. July—he makes a pilgrimage on foot to Optyna Pustyn monastery. The discord between the couple increases. Sofia assumes yet more of the burdens of running the farm and the house. 6th December—Andrei Tolstoy (Andryusha) born.
27th February. As I was reading through some of Lyovochka’s old diaries today, I realized I would never be able to write those ‘Notes for a Biography’, as I had intended to. His inner life is so complicated and his diaries disturb me so much that I grow confused, and cannot see things clearly. The other day, when I asked him to tell me about something from his past, he said: “Please don’t ask about these things; it disturbs me to think of my past and I’m much too old now to relive my whole life in memories.”