The Doll

I’ve just read The Doll by Bolesław Prus, an agoraphobic Pole who is often thought of as similar to Chekhov, but isn’t really. It’s a remarkable book, well-loved in Poland and typically unheard-of here. It’s a good, weighty, chewy read, full of thoughts and character; a masterpiece by anyone’s standards. Though set largely in late nineteenth-century Warsaw,