First published 1865
This collection presents five stories by Nikolai Leskov, including his celebrated Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Leskov wrote as an outsider who understood Russian society from its margins. His characters inhabit a world where religious devotion collides with criminal impulses, where the sacred and profane intertwine in unexpected ways. Born in 1831 in Gorokhovo, Leskov became a journalist in Petersburg and published his first story in 1860. His anti-nihilistic novels isolated him from literary circles of his time. He drew inspiration from folk legends and Christmas tales, crafting narratives in authentic Russian vernacular. His stories reveal a writer who combined spiritual depth with fascination for crime and possessed an occasionally lurid imagination. Leskov died in 1895, leaving behind work that captures the essence of his era. Translator David McDuff brings these tales to English readers, drawing on his experience with Russian classics by Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Bely and Babel.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, crime, 19th-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Russia
Period: 19th-Century
424 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books Ltd
Content warnings: violence