The Red Badge of Courage

Not sure if this is the right fit?

Consider War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Recommended by 12 sources.

“This is a vast, character-centered historical novel that moves between drawing-room conversations, battlefield narration and extended reflections on history and free will. You’ll spend long stretches inside the heads of several aristocratic families while the nation slides toward and through war; the reward is sharp psychological observation and richly textured social detail. The main limitation is scale: scenes repeat themes at length and Tolstoy stops to argue about historical causation, which breaks narrative momentum for readers who want a tighter plot.”