The House of the Dead

The House of the Dead is a semi-autobiographical novel which portrays the life of convicts in a Siberian prison camp. The book is, essentially, a disguised memoir; a loosely-knit collection of facts, events and philosophical discussion organised by "theme" rather than as a continuous story. Dostoevsky himself spent four years in exile in such a prison following his conviction for involvement in the Petrashevsky Circle. This experience allowed him to describe with great authenticity the conditions of prison life and the characters of the convicts. (from Wikipedia)