Resurrection

Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy (1899)

Prince Nekhlyudov, serving on a jury, recognizes the accused prostitute as a woman he seduced and abandoned years ago. Consumed by guilt, he follows her through the Russian prison system, seeking to make amends. Tolstoy's last major novel.

Historical Significance:
Tolstoy wrote Resurrection at age 71, donating all proceeds to the Doukhobors, a persecuted Russian religious sect he was helping emigrate to Canada. Published in 1899, it is his most overtly political novel — a savage indictment of the Russian legal system, the Orthodox Church, and the aristocratic class to which Tolstoy himself belonged. The novel led to his excommunication from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1901. It was Tolstoy's final fictional statement of his radical Christian philosophy: that all institutions are corrupt and only personal moral transformation can save humanity.

This public domain classic was originally published in 1899. Free to read and share.