Written in Sergei Dovlatov's unique voice and unmatched style, The Zone is a satirical novelization of Dovlatov's time as a prison guard for the Soviet Army in the early 1960s. Snapshots of the prison are juxtaposed with the narrator's letters to Igor Markovich of Hermitage Press in which he urges Igor to publish the very book we're reading. As Igor receives portions of the prison camp manuscript, so too does the reader. Arguably Dovlatov's most significant work, The Zone illuminates the twisted absurdity of the life of a prison guard: Almost any prisoner would have been suited to the role of a guard. Almost any guard deserved a prison term. Full of Dovlatov's trademark dark humor and dry wit, The Zone's narrator is an extension of his author, and the book fittingly begins with the following disclaimer: The names, events, and dates given here are all real. I invented only those details that were not essential. Therefore, any resemblance between the characters in this book and living people is intentional and malicious. And all fictionalizing was unexpected and accidental. What follows is a complex novel that captures two sides of Dovlatov: the writer and the man.

An unpublished writer and a chronic alcoholic, Boris Alikhanov is short of cash, at odds with the government and divorced from his wife Tatyana, who intends to emigrate to the West with their daughter Masha. The prospect of a summer job as a tourist guide at the Pushkin Hills preserve offers him hope of bringing back some balance into his existence, but during his stay in the rural estate of Mikhaylovskoye, Alikhanov s life continues to unravel and all his problems come to a head. Populated with unforgettable characters, such as Alikhanov s fellow guides Mitrofanov and Pototsky or the KGB officer Belyaev, and presented here for the first time in the English language, Pushkin Hills is arguably Dovlatov s most personal work and a poignant metaphor on the Russian attitude towards life and art.