The Plague

First published in 1947, this novel is set in Oran when bubonic plague closes the city. Dr Bernard Rieux treats the dying while the journalist Rambert tries to leave, the clerk Grand keeps writing a sentence, the Jesuit Paneloux preaches, and Tarrou organizes volunteer sanitation squads. Cottard thrives on the emergency. Daily counts of deaths, quarantines, and the smell of the streets form the action. The book is a chronicle of a town under epidemic, not a medical textbook and not a history of a documented outbreak.

Bound in orange-red cloth decorated in black and gold, orange cover-label with an illustration. Pale brown endleaves. Cream slipcase.