The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague. Each person responds in their own way to the disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few resist the terror. This title is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, and a story of bravery against the precariousness of human existence.

Meursault leads a bachelor life until he commits a random act of violence. His lack of emotion and failure to show remorse serve to increase his guilt in the eyes of the law. This novel explores the predicament of the individual who refuses to pretend and is prepared to face the indifference of the universe, courageously and alone.

Presents a terrifying tale of Joseph K, a respectable functionary in a bank, who is suddenly arrested and must defend his innocence against a charge about which he can get no information. This book is a vision of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the mad agendas of twentieth-century totalitarian regimes.

This is a new translation of five stories, including 'The Room', 'Erostratus', 'The Childhood of a Leader' and 'Intimacy', from a master of Existentialism.

Mathieu Delarue, a philosophy teacher, has so far managed to contain sex and personal freedom in separate compartments. But now he is in trouble, trying to raise 4,000 francs to procure a safe abortion for his mistress, Marcelle. Beyond all this, filtering an uneasy light on his predicament, rises the threat of the coming of the Second World War.