Nikolai Leskov

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books I decided that my trip had evidently been in vain, since nothing of interest could possibly occur on this visit. I was mistaken. Condemned to sleeplessness by the chatter permeating his guesthouse room, a forlorn traveller turns his ear to the riotous tale spun by the garrulous, meddlesome, inane and utterly...

A Russian heir to Charles Dickens, Leskov is one of the great, underrated voices of nineteenth-century Russia. An outsider from the literary establishment of his day, Nikolai Leskov is one of the most unique voices of nineteenth-century Russia, combining a profound religious spirit with a fascination for idiosyncratic characters, lurid crimes, comic absurdity and the joy of pure story. This...