The Adolescent

Arkady Dolgoruky is nineteen, the illegitimate son of a charming, restless landowner, and he has a private obsession: to become rich, independent and free of everyone's judgement. His story, told in his own awkward, vivid voice, becomes a search for a father, an identity and a place in the world — tangled up with secrets, a compromising letter and a St Petersburg full of schemes.

Less celebrated than the novels on either side of it, it is a rewarding look at youth, ambition and family. In English it is also known as A Raw Youth.