Solzhenitsyn's celebrated novel describes the lives of people in the Soviet Union under Stalin who were condemned on health grounds to "internment" or death. It also give a psychological insight into the intensified experience of people under varying degrees of pressure and deprivation.

Solzhenitsyn's celebrated novel describes the lives of people in the Soviet Union under Stalin who were condemned on health grounds to "internment" or death. It also give a psychological insight into the intensified experience of people under varying degrees of pressure and deprivation.