the well written - albert camus

It was quite like old times; a lot of young people were in the swimming 
pool, amongst them Marie Cardona, who used to be a typist at the office. 
I was rather keen on her in those days, and I fancy she liked me, too. 
But she was with us so short a time that nothing came of it. 
 

While I was helping her to climb on to a raft, I let my hand stray over her 
breasts. Then she lay flat on the raft, while I trod water. After a moment 
she turned and looked at me. Her hair was over her eyes and she was 
laughing. I clambered up on to the raft, beside her. The air was pleasantly 
warm, and, half jokingly, I let my head sink back upon her lap. She didn’t 
seem to mind, so I let it stay there. I had the sky full in my eyes, all blue 
and gold, and I could feel Marie’s stomach rising and falling gently under 
my head. We must have stayed a good half-hour on the raft, both of us 
half asleep. When the sun got too hot she dived off and I followed. I 
caught up with her, put my arm round her waist, and we swam side by 
side.  She was still laughing. 

- Albert Camus, The Stranger
 

By Matthew Richardson

The House of Illustration has been hosting illustration 
competitions for the past few years, the winner of which 
gets his/her illustration on the cover of that year's selected 
book.  The Stranger was the most recent book selected, 
and this illustration was one of the finalists, and eventually, 
the winner.