The Plague

A haunting tale of human resilience and hope in the face of unrelieved horror, Camus' iconic novel about an epidemic ravaging the people of a North African coastal town is a classic of twentieth-century literature and a timeless story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence. It starts with the rats. Vomiting blood, they die in their hundreds, then in their thousands. When the rats are all gone, the citizens begin to fall sick. Like the rats, they too die in ever greater numbers. The authorities quarantine the town. Cut off, the terrified townspeople must face this horror alone. Some resign themselves to death or the whims of fate. Others seek someone to blame, or dream of revenge. One is determined to escape. But a few, like stoic Dr Rieux, stand together to fight the terror. A monstrous evil has entered their lives but they will never surrender.