A searing indictment of the darkest side of decadent Russian culture in
the twilight of the Tsars, by the last of the great pre-Soviet realist
writers. Ahead of its time in the frank depiction of prostitution and
exploitation of women, this gritty and dramatic novel ranks with the
works of such eminent realists as Émile Zola in France, or George
Gissing in England.