Yama (The Pit)

A searing indictment of the darkest side of decadent Russian culture in the twilight of the Tsars, by the last of the great pre-Soviet realist writers. Ahead of its time in the frank depiction of prostitution and exploitation of women, this gritty and dramatic novel ranks with the works of such eminent realists as Émile Zola in France, or George Gissing in England.