The Journal of the Plague Year

London, 1665

By: Daniel Defoe

Narrated by: Nelson Runger

London's Great Plague of 1665 devastated the city, as Europe's final bubonic outbreak killed thousands of helpless citizens. Daniel Defoe, author of the classic Robinson Crusoe, was five years old when the Plague swept through London, and grew up hearing many stories - some truthful, others exaggerated - of its deadly effects. Blending those anecdotes with his childhood recollections and factual data from government registers, Defoe wrote this comprehensive account of what happened to London in 1665. Both a harrowing historical novel and a reliable journalistic record, Defoe recreates a living, suffering city trying to cope with an incurable, rapidly spreading disease.

©1988 Daniel Defoe (P)1988 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"...the work stands as the most reliable and comprehensive account of the Great Plague that we possess." (Anthony Burgess)

Great read

Defoe, like all Brit-lit, is brilliant as always in this gripping and frightful tale of a deadly resurgence pf the Plague. Eerily similar to the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the measures taken...human nature never changes.

history repeats itself

everything is very similar to what is going on i our time i really recommend this book

English Literature.

The performance in the book are great.My only issue is with the author himself Daniel Defoe . I can take it for what it is as a evolution of the novel.However , the story itself has a lot of juxtaposed positions.

Written when?!

Good lord this could have been written today! Very interesting, no it’s not a novel or “story” but much can be learned. Chapter 10 could be applied exactly today. Ppl’s attitude on how you get it, they are fine, how there needs to be contact tracing,etc. Even the “God’s wrath” belief is the same! We seem to have learned nothing, it was all laid out here.

history fact or fiction

The story is very interesting with points never thought of before I read the book, BUT if the author was only a little boy during the actual plague year how did he know all this information. So the story could be factual but it seemed to have a little fiction thrown in for good measure.