The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

'Crime and Punishment' is the best known and widely read work of Dostoevsky but this must be the most accomplished in terms of the expanse of human emotions - passion, crime, pettiness and envy. A very poignant depiction of social and spiritual striving of 19th century Russia. But it is not an easy read and one needs a couple o weeks if not months to get through it. The task is worth the trouble, as much as any reading can be.