The Last Man

The Last Man is a science fiction novel written by Mary Shelley and originally published in 1826. The plot describes a futuristic world that has been desolated by a plague.

Lionel is a young man distressed by the injustice he suffers in his life. He is uneducated and poor, and he is desperate. He is eager to get revenge on what he considers to be the cause of his troubles.

Despite being the son of a nobleman, his father fell from grace due to gambling problems and was expelled from court. Although he sends a letter to the King to take care of his children, the King ignores him and the children grow up as orphans.

However, a noble landowner appears in his life, who manages to appease Lionel's anger against the world. This man is goodness incarnate, the romantic hero, who teaches Lionel to read, to love and to live.

The novel describes an Earth at the time of the late 21st Century, desolated by a new pandemic of the bubonic plague which quickly sweeps across the world.