Senhoria, A by Fiódor Dostoiévski

A young, idealistic government clerk takes rooms in a modest lodging and becomes infatuated with the proprietress—an attractive, enigmatic woman whose mix of flirtation, confessional intimacy and quietly manipulative control slowly draws him into an unequal, obsessively personal relationship; as her tragic past and possessive impulses come to light, his pride and judgment are eroded, producing a tense psychological portrait of loneliness, self-deception and the corrosive effects of dependent attachment.