Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich The Double

Constantly rebuffed from the social circles he aspires to frequent, the timid clerk Golyadkin is confronted by the sudden appearance of his double, a more brazen, confident and socially succesful version of himself, who abuses and victimizes the original. As he is increasingly persecuted, Golyadkin finds his social, romantic and professional life unravelling, in a spiral that leads to a catastrophic denouement

Inspired by Dostoevsky's own gambling addiction and written under pressure in order to pay off his creditors and retain his rights to his literary legacy, The Gambler is set in the casino of the fictional German spa town of Roulettenburg and follows the misfortunes of the young tutor Alexei Ivanovich. As he succumbs to the temptations of the roulette table, he finds himself engaged in a battle of wills with Polina, the woman he unrequitedly loves. With an unforgettable cast of fellow gamblers and figures from European high society, this darkly comic novel of greed and self-destruction reveals Dostoevsky at his satirical and psychological best

Presented as a series of letters between the humble copying-clerk Devushkin and a distant relative of his, the young Varenka, Poor People brings to the fore the underclass of St Petersburg, who live at the margins of society in the most appalling conditions and abject poverty. As Devushkin tries to help Varenka improve her plight by selling anything he can, he is reduced to even more desperate circumstances and seeks refuge in alcohol, looking on helplessly as the object of his impossible love is taken away from him

'The best thing is to do nothing! Better conscious inertia! So, long live the underground!' • Alienated from society and paralysed by a sense of hose own insignificance, the anonymous narrator of Dostoyevsky's groundbreaking Notes from Underground tells the story of his tortured life. With bitter irony, he describes his refusal to become a worker in the 'anthill' of society and his gradual withdrawal to an existence 'underground'. The seemingly ordinary world of St Petersburg takes on a nightmarish quality in the The Double when a government clerk encounters a man who looks exactly like him - his double perhaps, or possibly the darker side of his own personality. Like Notes from Underground, this is a masterly tragi-comic study of human consciousousness

This Arcturus Classics edition presents two of Dostoevsky's shorter novels in one volume, Notes from the Underground and The Double • Notes from the Underground is a dystopian tale of the Underground Man, a retired civil servant living in St Petersburg who retreats from society. This work is considered by many to be the first existentialist novel and influenced many classic works including Metamorphosis and Invisible Man • The Double tells the story of Golyadkin who, on a bitter snowy night, encounters a stranger who looks exactly like him. They become friends, but then Golyadkin realises that unlike himself, his double is socially successful - likeable and charming - and thus the relationship starts to deteriorate. Golyadkin is caught up in a psychological battle that can only end in tragedy

Constantly rebuffed from the social circles he aspires to frequent, the timid clerk Golyadkin is confronted by the sudden appearance of his double, a more brazen, confident and socially successful version of himself, who abuses and victimizes the original. As he is increasingly persecuted, Golyadkin finds his social, romantic and professional life unravelling, in a spiral that leads to a catastrophic denouement. The Double, Dostoevsky's second published work of fiction, which foreshadows in its themes many of his mature novels, is the surreal and hallucinatory tale of an unfortunate anti-hero, at once chilling in its depiction of the dark sides of human nature and exuberantly comical

Dark forces are at work in the House of the Double Axe. Stephan, the thirteen-year-old son of King Minos of Crete, stumbles across a terrifying conspiracy. Is the Minotaur, a half man half bull who eats human flesh, real? Or is something even more dangerous threatening to engulf both the palace and the world? • Stephan must race to save his family from a terrible fate and find out what really lurks inside the labyrinth… • You think you know the story? Think again • Philip Womack reimagines classical myths from the point of view of teenage protagonists. It’s a thrilling tale of adventure, and an opportunity for young readers to engage with and learn more about classical mythology

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The one with the difficult aunt • The no. 1 lady detectives of Botswana travel to a safari lodge in the Okavango Delta to carry out a delicate mission on behalf of a former guest. It is a beautiful place full of dangerous, untamed creatures - some of them human • As Mma Ramotswe investigates, it becomes clearer that there is another mystery right under her nose that needs solving: Mma Makutsi is troubled by her fiance Phuti Radiphuti's reluctance to set a date for their wedding • In such matters at least Mma Ramotswe is on familiar terrain

This box set brings together 8 outstanding mystery books • Classic Tales of Detection and Adventure by Edgar Allan Poe • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky • The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle • The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle • The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle • The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins • The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux • The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Watching a rented video, Tertuliano Maximo Afonso is shocked to notice that one of the actors is identical to him in every physical detail. He embarks on a secret quest to find his double and sets in motion a train of events that he cannot control. Saramago's novel explores the nature of individuality and examines the fear and insecurity that arise when our singularity comes under threat, when even a wife cannot tell the original from the imposter

Meet the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece in this transporting tale of the classical world by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Bettany Hughes • Did I believe in what I was doing? Or rather, since I was doing nothing, did I believe in what someone, something was doing to me? • It begins with the half-burnt fish, miraculously restored to life, and the healing of the ill child • Young Arieka is an unloved misfit, but as rumours of her spiritual powers reach the High Priest of Apollo, her life is transformed. She is taken to Delphi to become a Pythia: a mouthpiece for the god Apollo, an oracle uttering riddling prophecies from a smoky cave to frenzied crowds • But when this role is dramatically thrust upon her, the priestess must navigate political conspiracy and the threat of the Romans to preserve her belief – and sanity