Product Description

In 1665 the plague swept through London, claiming over 97,000 lives. Daniel Defoe was just five at the time of the plague, but he later called on his own memories, as well as his writing experience, to create this vivid chronicle of the epidemic and its victims. 'A Journal' (1722) follows Defoe's fictional narrator as he traces the devastating progress of the plague through the streets of London. Here we see a city transformed: some of its streets suspiciously empty, some - with crosses on their doors - overwhelmingly full of the sounds and smells of human suffering. And every living citizen he meets has a horrifying story that demands to be heard.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96559 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) had a variety of careers including merchant, soldier, secret agent, and political pamphleteer. He wrote economic texts, history, biography, crime, and most famously fiction, including Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders and Roxana. Cynthia Wall is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Virginia.

Customer Reviews

An important book!
This is a brilliant history book, written as fiction by Defoe, who was 5-years-old and stayed living in London throughout the Plague of 1665. He wrote this book some years later from his remembrances of things he saw and heard. Placing himself in the character of a young man, we read stories of great sorrow and great hope alike. Giving us a fascinating insight into the nature of varied human responses to tragedy and disaster. So we learn about people who put their own lives on the line going out to work sometimes in the houses of the already infected just to be able to feed and clothe their family, and then we learn about disturbing characters who used the opportunity for their own ill-gotten gains. It's disturbing to learn that young women were still attacked and raped in the streets of London, and houses were still robbed despite having the 'cross' sign of the Plague infection on their doors.
The book doesn't just centre on the streets of London but travels into the surrounding countryside, remember even places like Walthamstow were at the time considered to be outside London, and very much the countryside.
During it's worst months, thousands of people, both infected and not, were attempting an escape to what they thought was the safety of the country, only to be confronted with pitch-fork wielding locals at the village gates telling them to go away in no uncertain terms. But of course even these people succumbed in the end.
This is not a pleasant read, what with Plague pit descriptions, stories of babies suckling the breasts of their long-dead mothers, and in-depth descriptions of the symptoms. But i believe it's an important read, being both an interesting look at the human psyche and behaviour patterns in a time of great distress, panic and fright, and also as probably the most accurate account of one of this country's most tragic years.
The book touches on the Great Fire of 1666 aswell, and the conclusion the reader is lead to, is that London was a completely different place following those 2 events, even to this very day. A particularly riveting read if you are either a Londoner by birth or live in London.

Interesting and at times quite grisly
What I like best about DeFoe is that he is very readable and can hold your attention for hours. Sure, he can contradict himself at times and he does have a flair for repetition and while he is not above pointing out the obvious, DeFoe is extremely interesting. "A Journal of the Plague Year" contains all the things DeFoe is noted for including a sharp eye for detail and sly humour. I liked this book and recommend it mainly because much of what DeFoe observed about human nature in the early 18th century is still relevant today.

creative journalism
This edition restores Defoe's original punctuation, with capitals for nouns and colons for stops, so the writing has the vitality, weight and elasticity that Defoe meant when he wrote it. I wish Penguin's print was more comfortable to read and blacker.

I first read this book in the early 1970s as a work of fiction because it has been classified as such since the 19th century, and I found the plot dull. When I read it again twenty years later I realized why - this book isn't fiction at all. It is a factual account of what happened in London in 1665, based on his uncle Henry Foe's eyewitness experience, which is blended with Defoe's journalistic research after the event. The result is a marvellous work of journalism that has the vividness of an eyewitness account, taking the reader right into the events, and the mastery of Defoe's talent and research of the whole subject. The eyewitness account is turned into a most vivid masterpiece.

If you try to read the Journal of the Plague Year as fiction it will seem dull because it can't satisfy as such. It doesn't have any of the effects that go with fiction such as plot, fantasy, author's design, or character development. However it is beautifully constructed.


The Journal of the Plague Year is a great work of journalism and is (as far as I know) the most vivid account of any historic event in English. It is great to read and browse in as well.