At the beginning of June the river floods, ducks swim through the drawing-room windows and Ebin Willoweed rows his daughters round the submerged garden. But the flood is only the beginning of the village’s troubles.

All of a sudden the miller goes mad and drowns himself in the river. As the village is afflicted by a mysterious virus, the villagers begin dying one by one. The newspaper asks ‘Who will be smitten by the fatal madness next?’

Comyns’ unique voice weaves a text as wonderful as it is horrible, as beautiful as it is cruel. Originally published in England in 1954, this overlooked small masterpiece is a twisted pandemic tragicomic gem.