<b>'A truly great translation . . . This English version really is better' - A. N. Wilson, <i>The Spectator<br></i></b><br><b><i>TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT </i>BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014</b><br><br>This acclaimed new translation 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.<br><br>Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born in Moscow and made his name in 1846 with the novella <i>Poor Folk</i>. He spent several years in prison in Siberia as a result of his political activities, an experience which formed the basis of <i>The House of the Dead</i>. In later life, he fell in love with a much younger woman and developed a ruinous passion for roulette. His subsequent great novels include <i>Notes from Underground,</i> <i>Crime and Punishment,</i> <i>The Idiot</i>, <i>Demons</i> and <i>The Brothers Karamazov.</i><br><br>Oliver Ready is Research Fellow in Russian Society and Culture at St Antony's College, Oxford. He is general editor of the anthology, <i>The Ties of Blood: Russian Literature from the 21st Century </i>(2008), and Consultant Editor for Russia, Central and Eastern Europe at the <i>Times Literary Supplement</i>.