The old woman was merely a sickness... it wasn't a human being I killed, it was a principle! TRANSLATED BY RICHARD PEVEAR & LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY 'The old woman was merely a sickness . . .it wasn't a human being I killed, it was a principle!' A troubled young man commits the perfect crime - the murder of a vile pawnbroker whom no one will miss. Raskolnikov is desperate for money, but convinces himself that his motive for the murder is to benefit mankind. So begins one of the greatest novels ever written, a journey into the criminal mind, a police thriller, and a philosophical meditation on morality and redemption.