An early one from an old master, a too familiar plot (ambitious wife with a young lover plots to kill wealthy husband) is rendered with an expert's touch. Nabokov re-worked the translation of this novel in the 1960's, injecting the atmosphere with the spectre of Nazism and a curious sub-plot involving automatons. Moves between stream-of-consciousness, imagination, perception and drama and an ending that takes some time to get there but surprises in the end.
