Born to an Armenian mother and a Jewish father, Sergei Dovlatov (1941-90) grew up in Leningrad. Because of his writings, which he could not publish in Russia, he was persecuted by the authorities, and ultimately forced into exile in the US, where he developed his talent as a comic writer. Since his death in 1990, Dovlatov has become one of the most popular and widely read authors in Russia.

Based on Dovlatov's actual experience of being a prison guard in Soviet Russia in the 1960s, and full of comic and humane detail, The Zone depicts the absurd day-to- day life of a camp in an insightful and unusual way, challenging commonly held perceptions of the relations between incarcerators and the incarcerated.

A priceless chronicle of its time which highlights universal themes, Dovlatov's genre-defying novel also provides moments of high entertainment and humour, rendered in his characteristically sharp, concise and sardonic style.

One wishes that he'd lived longer, been published sooner, given us more.