In the depths of a cellar in St. Petersburg, a civil servant spews forth a passionate and furious note on the ills of society. The manifesto reveals his erratic, self-contradictory and sadistic nature. When the narrator ventures above ground, he attends a dinner with a group of old school friends. Here, paralysed by social awkwardness, he carries out extraordinary acts and cements his status as a true and original outsider. A radical new translation by Natasha Randall, narrated by DBC Pierre, whose passion and identification with the book promise a breathtaking new interpretation