{"product_id":"the-plague","title":"The Plague","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA modern retelling of the Camus classic that posits its story of infectious disease and quarantine in our contemporary age of social justice and rising inequity.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAt first it's the dead rats; they start dying in cataclysmic numbers, followed by other city creatures. Then people begin experiencing flu-like symptoms as well as swellings in their lymph nodes. The masses react in disbelief when the official diagnosis comes in and later, when a quarantine is imposed on the increasingly terrified city.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by Albert Camus' classic 1947 novel, Kevin Chong's \u003ci\u003eThe Plague\u003c\/i\u003e follows Dr Bernard Rieux's attempts to fight the treatment-resistant disease and find meaning in suffering. His efforts are aided by Megan Tso, an American writer who is trapped in the city while on a book tour, and Raymond Siddhu, a city hall reporter at a daily newspaper on its last legs from the latest round of job cuts.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eTold with dark humour and an eye trained on the frailties of human behaviour, Chong's novel explores themes in keeping with Camus' original vision--heroism in the face of futility, the psychological strain of quarantine--but fraught with the political and cultural anxieties of our present day.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kevin Chong (CA)","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback Trade paperback (US)","offer_id":44733318168869,"sku":"9781551527185","price":19.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0727\/7851\/4725\/products\/BNCImageAPI_50d2cc87-bb08-4715-a5f5-99dd3da842ec.jpg?v=1679348978","url":"https:\/\/crossandcrows.myshopify.com\/products\/the-plague","provider":"Cross \u0026 Crows Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}