The Plague

Oran is described as an ordinary, rather dull town, where people work hard and think mostly about business and pleasure. When rats begin to die in the streets in large numbers, few take it seriously. Dr. Bernard Rieux is among the first to suspect the truth, and he pushes the hesitant authorities to act. Once the plague is officially declared, the gates are shut and the city lives in isolation, with families and couples separated from loved ones outside.

The story follows several characters through the long months of the epidemic. Rieux works exhausting days treating patients while his own wife is away at a sanatorium. Jean Tarrou, a visitor who keeps a detailed notebook, organizes volunteer sanitary teams. Raymond Rambert, a journalist stuck far from the woman he loves in Paris, tries every way to escape before facing a difficult choice. Joseph Grand, a modest clerk, spends his evenings polishing the opening sentence of a novel, and the shady Cottard finds that the crisis suits him strangely well. Camus shows boredom, fear, small heroism and the quiet decency of people who simply do their job.

Measured and reflective rather than dramatic. About 308 pages in Stuart Gilbert's translation.