Which Dostoevsky novel is set largely in the fictional town of Skotoprigonyevsk?

The Brothers Karamazov is set largely in the fictional town of Skotoprigonyevsk.

Dostoevsky’s final completed novel follows the Karamazov family and examines faith, doubt, free will, guilt, and responsibility. Much of the action occurs in and around Skotoprigonyevsk, a provincial town whose social world brings together the family, local officials, clergy, and intellectuals.

The novel was published serially in 1879 and 1880 in the journal The Russian Messenger, then appeared as a book in 1880. Dostoevsky died in 1881, leaving no sequel despite suggesting that Alyosha Karamazov might continue as the protagonist of a later work.

Skotoprigonyevsk is fictional, so it should not be confused with a real Russian city. The novel’s opening also introduces the Karamazov family history before the central murder plot unfolds.