"A truly great translation . . . This English version really is better" – A. N. Wilson, The Spectator

This acclaimed translation by Oliver Ready of Dostoyevsky's "psychological record of a crime" gives his dark masterpiece of murder and pursuit a renewed vitality, expressing its jagged, staccato urgency and fevered atmosphere as never before.

Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders alone through the slums of St Petersburg, deliriously imagining himself above society's laws. But when he commits a random murder, only suffering ensues. Embarking on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer the chance of redemption.

Specifications

• Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Translator: Oliver Ready
• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Format: Paperback
• Language: English