The Seventh Wave, episode 23: a sneak peek.
Dostoevsky was addicted to roulette. He wrote his short novel The Gambler to help pay off his debts, and the novel was itself a gamble. He bet the publisher Stellovsky he could deliver it by a certain date in November 1866, or else Stellovsky would have the rights to publish all Dostoevsky’s work for nine years without paying him anything. Dostoevsky won the bet but continued to owe money. Not even the seven thousand rubles he earned for Crime and Punishment were enough to get him out of the red. Luckily for him, while he was writing The Gambler he had fallen in love with his stenographer, whose shorthand speed had helped him win his bet about that book. She became his second wife and sold her jewelry and other valuables to cover what he still owed.
She was twenty years old. He was forty-five.
Her name was Anna.