" . . . some of the best of the enormous, mostly untranslated Gulag memoir literature." --Anne Applebaum, Literary Review (London)
" . . . probably the most gripping and detailed addtion to the famous fundamental work by Solzhenitsyn. This book should be read by everybody . . . " --The Spectator
"How extraordinary it is that compassion and tenderness may flourish in the cruellest conditions; how stubbornly and bravely people survive them. This is not a depressing book but an inspiriting and encouraging one." --Doris Lessing
Arrest, interrogation, imprisonment, trial and sentencing, transport, labor camps, internal exile, sometimes release, often followed by re-arrest and re-imprisonment--and, for those who outlived Stalin, eventual reprieve and rehabilitation--these are the outlines of the experiences recorded by 16 courageous Russian women whose moving testimonies, most of them written in secret and at great personal risk, are presented here.