Petersburg — Adam Thirlwell

Andrei Bely's Petersburg is a colourful evocation of Russia's capital during the short, turbulent period of the first socialist revolution in 1905. Considered Bely's masterpiece, the story follows Nikolai Ableukhov's journey as he is caught up in the revolutionary politics of those seminal days; exploring themes of history, identity, and family, the novel sees the young Russian chased through the misty Petersburg streets, tasked with planting a bomb intended to kill a government official - his own father. History, culture and politics are blended and juxtaposed; weather reports, current news, fashions and psychology jostle together with people from Petersburg in this literary triumph.