The Plague

Albert Camus

The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which spread from rats and now condemns its human victims to a swift and horrifying death. Forced into quarantine in the sweltering heat, each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame and revenge, and a few, like the unheroic Dr Rieux, join forces to defy the terror.
Written just after the Nazi occupation of France, The Plague, is a taut, visceral depiction of resistance against a seemingly uncontrollable evil.