The Monastery (Prilepin novel)

The Monastery
The Sekirnaya Hill,
where parts of the novel are set
AuthorZakhar Prilepin
Original titleОбитель
TranslatorNicholas Kotar
LanguageRussian
PublisherAST
Publication date
2014
Publication placeRussia
Published in English
2020

The Monastery (Russian: Обитель, lit.'The Abode') is a historical novel by Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin, depicting life inside the Solovki prison camp on the Solovki Islands in the White Sea at the end of the 1920s. It was published in 2014 by the AST publishing house, and in 2020 inspired Alexander Veledinsky to film an eight-part television adaptation starring Sergey Bezrukov.

The Monastery became Prilepin's best-selling book, earning him the Big Book National Literary Award (for the 2013–2014 season) and the Russian Government Prize in the Field of Culture (2016). It has been translated into many languages, including English.