Henri Troyat (born Lev Aslanovich Tarasov; 1 November [O.S. 19 October] 1911 – 2 March 2007) was a Russian-born French author, biographer, historian and novelist. Lev Aslanovich Tarasov (Russian: Лев Асланович Тарасов, Lev Aslanovich Tarasov) was born in Moscow to parents of mixed heritage, including Armenian, Russian, German and Georgian. In his autobiography, he states that his surname is Armenian (Torossian), while his maternal grandmother was German and his maternal grandfather was of mixed Georgian and Armenian descent. His family fled Russia after the outbreak of the revolution. After a long exodus taking them to the Caucasus on to Crimea and later by sea to Istanbul and then Venice, the family finally settled in Paris in 1920, where young Troyat was schooled and later earned a law degree. The stirring and tragic events of this fli...read more