(publisher blurb) 1947, Oran, Algeria. The major port city and commercial center has one of the largest populations of Europeans (primarily French) of any Northern African city. Oran possesses a unrivaled diversity of culture—including a peaceful intersection of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—decades before revolution will drive the Europeans out. Due to the peace and prosperity of the city after the end of World War II, few are willing to accept the reality of the situation as plague sets in. First, rats die in the streets by the thousand. Then people start to develop fevers and buboes, and are soon dying like the rats. A quarantine is placed on Oran, leaving its inhabitants to their fates...