This book by José Saramago examines a city that is plagued by a highly-contagious epidemic. Following the title of the book, the illness that spreads among the population is a form of white Blindness that infets everyone it touches. The government quarantines the blind inside of a mental hospital that gets taken over by criminals, who subject the blind to horrific abuse. There is one witness who leads a group of seven to escape their tormentors.