The Possessed

This remarkable novel is a social and political satire, a psychological drama, and large-scale tragedy. Its plot revolves around a fictitious Russian town that becomes the focal point of an attempted political revolution. Pytor Verkhovensky, the head conspirator, organises the revolution from his secret society, working in the shadows and in the homes of some of the town's wealthiest people to bring them down. Nikolai Stavrogin, his moral counterpart, is the other main character in the story. An aristocratic man with a new wife and a dark secret who has recently returned to town. Nikolai, along with Pytor's father, Stepan, becomes an unwitting conspirator in the revolution.