Papillion
by Henri Charrière

Classic autobiographical novel about the author’s incarceration and subsequent escape from the French penal colony of French Guiana. Includes how he mentally survived two-years in solitary confinement.

Long Walk To Freedom
by Nelson Mandela 

Autobiography of the former South African president, profiling his early life and 27 years in prison.

Room
by Emma Donoghue

Incredibly tense but beautifully crafted novel, narrated from the point of view of Jack, a five-year old boy who has never known the world beyond the small room he has grown up in with his mother.

Shantaram
by Gregory David Roberts

Epic life-changing novel, loosely based on Gregory’s life as a former heroin addict and armed robber from Australia who escaped prison and adopted a new persona living in the slums of Bombay.

Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe

Published 301 years ago, and credited as being the first English language novel, the narrator is the only survivor of a shipwreck, forced to live alone for 28-years on a deserted island, off
the coast of America.

Feature image by David Lezcan