Resurrection – Leo Tolstoy

"One of the commonest and most generally accepted delusions is that every man can be qualified in some particular way—said to be kind, wicked, stupid, energetic, apathetic, and so on."

Prince Nekhlyudov serves on a jury and recognizes the defendant, Katyusha Maslova, as a servant girl he seduced and abandoned years ago, driving her to prostitution and crime. Overcome by guilt, he decides to give up his privileged life to save her, following her to Siberia. His journey becomes a scathing critique of the church, the legal system, and social injustice.

Tolstoy's final novel is a powerful moral tract. It explores themes of redemption, non-violence, and the hypocrisy of the elite. It led to Tolstoy's excommunication from the Russian Orthodox Church.