Albert Camus

Written during the bleakest days of the Second World War, Camus argues for an acceptance of reality that encompasses revolt, passion and, above all, liberty. Inspired by the myth of a man condemned to ceaselessly push a rock up a mountain and watch it roll back to the valley below, The Myth of Sisyphus transformed twentieth-century philosophy with its impassioned argument for the value of life in a world without religious meaning.

Meursault leads an apparently unremarkable bachelor life in Algiers until he commits a random act of violence. His lack of emotion and failure to show remorse only serve to increase his guilt in the eyes of the law, and challenges the fundamental values of society - a set of rules so binding that any person breaking them is condemned as an outsider.

Oran, Algeria, is in the grip of the plague, which is subjecting many of its citizens to a horrifying death. Each person responds in his own way, some resign themselves to their fate, others, like the quietly heroic Dr Rieux, try to fight against it.The book may be seen in part as an allegory of France’s suffering under the Nazi occupation.