A 1982 thriller novel about a virus pandemic by Stanley Johnson, father of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, will be republished in the U.K. this summer, the Guardian reports.
The elder Johnson’s The Virus—now very timely for obvious reasons—had been out of print in the U.K., although it’s been available in the U.S. since 2015. The novel, originally published as The Marburg Virus, deals with “the rise of a mysterious virus and one man’s fight to stop a deadly pandemic,” according to HarperCollins, which publishes the book in the U.S.
Johnson had been trying to find a new U.K. publisher for the novel after the COVID-19 pandemic began dominating headlines worldwide. He told the Guardian that he didn’t consider it inappropriate to seek out a new publisher for the book. “I’m a professional writer,” he said. “Is it opportunistic for journalists and newspapers to be writing about the coronavirus?”
The novel will be republished by indie press Black Spring, which has also published books by musicians Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen.
On Amazon, the book has drawn mostly positive reviews from readers, although a reviewer for Kirkus was a bit less impressed, calling the book “farfetched, cartoony, but genially bouncing with pseudo-science.”
The Virus is slated for reissue in the U.K. on June 1.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
