An island hell: A Soviet prison in the far north

"An Island Hell: A Soviet Prison in the Far North" by S. A. (Sozerko Artaganovich) Malʹsagov is a true story about the horrors of the Soviet prison system in the early 1900s. The book tells the story of life on the Solovetsky Islands, where the author was locked up. He explains the terrible setting where political prisoners suffered extreme cruelty and inhumane conditions under the watchful eye of the Tcheka, the secret police, both during and after the Russian Revolution. Beginning with his capture after serving in the White Army during the Russian Civil War, the book recounts the torture, interrogation, and subsequent exile to the brutal Solovetsky concentration camp. This sets a serious tone of political oppression and lays the background of pain and the basic need to survive, which becomes the main theme throughout the book.