Penguin Books Australia

One of the twentieth century's most prominent authors, and a philosopher in his own right, Camus was a major influence on modern existentialist thinking. In this covetable boxed set are gathered together four of his major works, including his most famous novel, The Outsider .

The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine, each responding in their own way to the lethal bacillus: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame and a few, like Dr Rieux, resist the terror.

An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, Camus's novel...

Meursault leads an unremarkable, bachelor life in Algiers, but his sudden involvement in a violent confrontation throws him into turmoil as he is forced to question the fundamental values of society. Camus creates a world without a God but a society that is still subject to restrictive, man-made rules capable of alienating any who transcend them.

In this most memorable of existential novels, Camus...

'On the morning of April 16, Dr Rieux emerged from his consulting-room and came across a dead rat in the middle of the landing.'

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...

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other...