The Stranger
A man commits a senseless murder and faces trial less for his crime than for his emotional detachment.
Where The Stranger keeps showing up
Five of our editors' lists feature this novel.
Books in conversation with The Stranger
A few of the closest reads from our full list.
What you might want to know about The Stranger
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Meursault is a young French Algerian shipping clerk in 1930s Algiers, and the novel opens with the line that his mother died today. After a beach trip with his neighbor Raymond, Meursault shoots an Arab man under the noon sun and goes to trial for the killing and for not weeping at the funeral.
Multiple books share this title. The most commonly searched is The Stranger by Albert Camus (L'Etranger, 1942), a foundational existentialist novel. Harlan Coben also wrote a 2015 thriller titled The Stranger.
No. The Stranger is short (around 130 pages) and uses Camus's spare, direct prose. Most readers find it accessible despite the philosophical weight. It is widely taught in introductory philosophy and existentialism courses.
The Stranger is 143 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Stranger takes most readers 2 to 3 hours to finish.
The Stranger is a standalone novel by Albert Camus, not part of a series.
The Stranger is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
