The House of the Dead or Prison Life in Siberia by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Autobiographical novel, first published in 1861. According to Wikipedia: The House of the Dead is a novel published in 1861 in the journal Vremya by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which portrays the life of convicts in a Siberian prison camp. The novel has also been published under the titles Memoirs from the House of The Dead and Notes from the Dead House. The book is a loosely-knit collection of facts and events connected to life in a Siberian prison, organised by theme rather than as a continuous story. Dostoyevsky himself spent four years in exile in such a camp 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.