In 1923, Albert Camus was a child of misfortune. At just ten years old, his destiny was simple and bleak: leave school and join the workforce. His family lived in extreme poverty in the Belcourt district of Algiers. Seven people crammed into a two-room apartment with no electricity, no running water. His mother was deaf and illiterate, speaking only 400 words. She worked cleaning houses for about 1,000 francs a month, plus an 800-franc widow’s pension. His brother Lucien, age 14, had already qui