The fall ([New ed.])

Jean-Baptiste Clamence is a soul in turmoil. Over several drunken nights he regales a chance acquaintance with his story.

From this successful former lawyer and seemingly model citizen a compelling, self-loathing catalogue of guilt, hypocrisy and alienation pours forth. "The Fall" (1956) is a brilliant portrayal of a man who has glimpsed the hollowness of his existence.

But beyond depicting one man's disillusionment, Camus's novel exposes the universal human condition and its absurdities - and our innocence that, once lost, can never be recaptured.