Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is regarded by some as the greatest novelist of all time. With such masterpieces as Anna Karenina and War and Peace, he influenced generations of writers and changed the course of world literature.

On a train journey, Pozdnyshev tells his story to a stranger: how his relationship with his wife gradually deteriorated from one of love and passion to jealousy and resentfulness, culminating in a mad act of desperation while she practised Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata with her violin teacher.

An uncompromising examination of lust, suspicion and infidelity which was once forbidden by censors in Russia and banned in the US due to its shocking content, Tolstoy's controversial novella - here presented in a new translation, along with 'The Prisoner of the Caucasus', 'Master and Man' and 'After the Ball' - is now considered one of the masterpieces of Tolstoy's late period.

Tolstoy is the greatest Russian writer of prose fiction.

It showcases the questioning, unsettling and perfectly crafted prose of the author of Anna Karenina and War and Peace.

In Roger Cockrell's fluid rendering in English, the story shines and glimmers beautifully.