Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoyevsky · translated by Constance Garnett · 1866
This book is rated Ages 16+. It isn't available on your library card.
A starving former student in St Petersburg convinces himself that an extraordinary man may kill for a higher purpose -- and then lives with what he has done.
For readers 16 and older: a murder, deaths and a suicide are part of the story (never shown graphically).
Characters
Raskolnikov
A proud, starving former student in a coffin-like Petersburg garret, feverishly nursing a terrible idea he hardly dares to name.
Sonia
Marmeladov's timid, gentle daughter, who has given everything to keep her hungry family alive, yet keeps her quiet faith.
Dounia
Raskolnikov's proud and beautiful sister, ready to sacrifice herself in marriage for her brother's future.
Razumihin
Raskolnikov's loyal, noisy, good-hearted friend from university, poor but always cheerful, who refuses to let him go under.
Porfiry Petrovitch
A stout, sly examining magistrate whose friendly chatter and odd jokes hide a very sharp mind.
Svidrigaïlov
A mysterious, worldly gentleman with a dark past in Dounia's life, who turns up in Petersburg with his own plans.
Luzhin
Dounia's pompous, penny-pinching fiancé, a prosperous lawyer who expects a wife to see him as her benefactor.
Katerina Ivanovna
Marmeladov's proud, consumptive wife, clinging to memories of her genteel girlhood while her children go hungry.
Pulcheria Alexandrovna
Raskolnikov's anxious, devoted mother, a provincial widow who lives for her son and worries over his every word.
Marmeladov
A ruined, drunken clerk who pours out his shame and his hope of God's forgiveness to strangers in a tavern.
Alyona Ivanovna
A tiny, withered, greedy old pawnbroker who lends poor students a pittance at cruel interest.
Nastasya
The chatty, good-natured cook of Raskolnikov's lodging house, who brings him soup and scolds him for lying about.
About the story
Crime and Punishment follows Rodion Raskolnikov, a poor former student living in a cramped garret in St. Petersburg during a stifling summer. Proud, isolated and half-starved, he has been nursing a theory that an extraordinary person may be entitled to step over the moral law for a greater good. He decides to test it on an old pawnbroker. The novel then follows what happens inside him afterward: the fever, the dread, and the long cat-and-mouse conversations with the shrewd investigating lawyer Porfiry Petrovitch.
Around him moves a crowded city of the poor. There is the drunken clerk Marmeladov and his daughter Sonia, Raskolnikov's devoted mother and his sister Dounia, his loyal friend Razumihin, and a gallery of landladies, officials and schemers. Through them Dostoyevsky explores guilt, poverty, pride, suffering and the possibility of redemption.
First published in 1866, the novel is less a mystery about who committed a crime than a psychological study of why, and of what it costs. Its intense portrait of a mind at war with itself shaped generations of writers and thinkers. It remains one of the most widely read works of Russian literature, and Constance Garnett's translation introduced it to many English-language readers.
This Knownstep Stories edition is a condensed picture-book retelling in 151 illustrated pages, with about 45 minutes of narration by a synthetic voice; the pictures are AI illustrations drawn for this edition. Constance Garnett's full translation is in the public domain, free to read, and well worth the time.
Adapted from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett (1866), public domain.
Questions
What is Crime and Punishment about?
It is about Raskolnikov, a poor ex-student in St. Petersburg who convinces himself that killing a greedy old pawnbroker could be justified. Then he has to live with what he has done. The novel focuses on his guilt, fear and inner struggle more than on the crime itself.
Who is the main character in Crime and Punishment?
The main character is Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov, also called Rodya, a proud and isolated young man who has dropped out of university. Other key characters include Sonia Marmeladov, his sister Dounia, his friend Razumihin and the investigator Porfiry Petrovitch.
Is Crime and Punishment suitable for children or teens?
This edition is rated 16+. The story includes a violent murder, a brutal scene of cruelty to a horse, heavy drinking, extreme poverty, a suicide attempt, and a young woman forced into prostitution to support her family. Older teens and adults are the best audience.
How long does this edition take to read or listen to?
This picture-book edition has 151 illustrated pages and about 45 minutes of narration, so most people can finish it in one sitting.
Is this the full book?
No. This is a condensed retelling that follows the main events and characters. The complete novel is several hundred pages long, and Constance Garnett's full translation is free to read in the public domain.
Read the text version: every page's caption, with its picture, on one page.
