The Spanish Flu of 1918's legacy across European culture as the greatest human disaster in recorded history, claiming the lives of between 50 and 100 million people, is explored in scientific, medical, political and historical depth.

Laura Spinney is a science journalist and a literary novelist. She is the author of two novels and her writing on science has appeared in National Geographic, Nature, The Economist and The Telegraph, among others. Born in the UK, she has also lived in France and Switzerland.