Sofia Tolstaya combined the management of a large household and estate with literary work, publishing and photography. After marrying Leo Tolstoy in 1862, she bore thirteen children and became deeply involved in the preparation of his manuscripts. She repeatedly copied drafts of War and Peace, working through difficult handwriting and revisions. As Tolstoy's attention shifted toward religious questions, she took increasing responsibility for practical affairs at Yasnaya Polyana and for the family's finances.

She also managed the publication of his works and defended the income derived from them. In 1891 she obtained an audience with Alexander III that helped secure permission to include The Kreutzer Sonata in a collected edition. She objected to that work's treatment of marriage and wrote her own responses, including Whose Fault? and Song Without Words, which remained unpublished during her lifetime. Her diaries and memoir My Life recorded domestic experience and her account of the marriage.

Returning to photography in 1887, Tolstaya created more than a thousand images of family, visitors, the estate and its surroundings. She pursued the work more systematically after the death of her youngest son in 1895. Arguments over property, copyright and Tolstoy's associates increasingly divided the family. After he left home and died in 1910, she continued living at Yasnaya Polyana and preserving its records. Her manuscripts and photographs record life at the estate.