Eternal Husband, , The Travellers Bookstore, Melbourne, Australia

Velchaninov, a prosperous and idle man undergoing a moral crisis, is confronted in St Petersburg by Trusotsky, the loyal husband of Velchaninov's former lover. Trusotsky informs Velchaninov that his wife has died, and from here this fascinating novella charts the development of the two men's lives. The Eternal Husband beautifully portrays the confused and changing feelings the two men have for one another, moving through guilt, hatred and love. This is Dostoevsky at his best, engaging with his favoured themes of tortured minds and neurosis, and treatin them in a captivating and highly revealing way. A remarkable psychological novel examining the duality of human consciousness, this is a brilliant and unjustly neglected work from one of Russia's most esteemed writers.