It is said that a victim of cholera dies or recovers on the sixth day. Om Hassan recognizes that during these six days it is dangerous for her grandson to remain in Cairo, a city ravaged by illness and living on fear. Her heroic and perilous response is to take him up the Nile to the safety of the countryside. In an age confronted by Aids, The Sixth Day - like Defoe?s Journal of a Plague Year or Camus?s The Plague - is a telling reminder of society?s constant vulnerability to disease.