First published 1994
Summoned to St. Petersburg by the sudden death of his stepson, the aging Dostoevsky is consumed by grief and obsession. As he investigates his stepson's fate - whether suicide or murder - the writer confronts his own troubled past, the specters of his literary legacy, and the looming shadow of revolutionary change. Coetzee's atmospheric novel is both a gripping mystery and a profound meditation on art, authority, and the ghosts that haunt us all.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, biographical-fiction, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: grief, obsession
Setting: Russia, Saint Petersburg (Russia)
Period: Alexander II, 1855-1881
250 pages · Paperback · Minerva