Alexei Tolstoy's '1918' is the compelling second volume in his monumental 'The Road to Calvary' trilogy, offering an unflinching look at the chaos and societal upheaval gripping Russia during the tumultuous year of the Russian Civil War. Picking up where 'Sisters' left off, this novel plunges readers deeper into the lives of Dasha and Katia Bulavina, their husbands Telegin and Roshchin, and their entangled fates amidst a nation tearing itself apart. Tolstoy masterfully portrays the intense ideological conflicts, the widespread suffering, and the desperate search for meaning and survival in a world turned upside down by revolution. It's a powerful historical epic illuminating human resilience.