வெண்ணிற இரவுகள் [Vennira Iravukal]

In a pale St. Petersburg summer night, a shy dreamer who has no friends meets a young woman named Nastenka as she cries on a bridge. Over four nights they confide in each other, and she tells him she is waiting for a lodger who promised to return in a year. The narrator, helping her, falls in love. Dostoevsky's novella from his early years is a story of loneliness and imagination, ending with a quiet morning.

Brief, tender and close in mood to a love letter, it works for newcomers. It shows a gentler side of Dostoevsky than his famous crime novels.

Deep, inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

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