The Plague

Albert Camus

Oct 2013 · Penguin UK

About this ebook

'A story for our, and all, times' Guardian

Set in a town consumed by a deadly virus, The Plague is Albert Camus's world-renowned fable of fear and courage

The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr Rieux, resist the terror.

An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, The Plague is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, and a story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence.

'A matchless fable of fear, courage and cowardice' Independent

'Magnificent' The Times

Ratings and reviews

Very incisive insights into human nature - thought provoking and well worth reflecting on. Read it during the Covid19 pandemic in May 2020 - seemed very apposite and familiar.

The finest book I read in 2018. I got it at Christmas and had it finished before the new year, could not put it down.

A beautifully written, thought provoking book. I just read it in covid 19 quarantine.

About the author

Albert Camus (1913-60) grew up in a working-class neighbourhood in Algiers. He studied philosophy at the University of Algiers, and became a journalist. His most important works include The Outsider, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Plague and The Fall. After the occupation of France by the Germans in 1941, Camus became one of the intellectual leaders of the Resistance movement. He was killed in a road accident, and his last unfinished novel, The First Man, appeared posthumously.