Victor Hugo 
Last Day of a Condemned Man 

A short novel about the final hours of a man sentenced to death, "The Last Day of a Condemned Man" can be read as a social critique and revolt against the institution of the death penalty. The protagonist wakes up every day with the same thought in his head, and a small grain of hope in his heart. He recalls his past errors of the time before his imprisonment, painting a sympathetic and apologetic picture of human condition. But his path does not lead backwards, only forward. And there awaits the guillotine. –