The disturbing post-apocalyptic novel "The Chrysalids" by John Wyndham, author of "The Day of the Triffids" and "The Kraken Wakes" and dramatised on BBC Radio 4. David Strorm's father doesn't approve of Angus Morton's unusually large horses, calling them blasphemies against nature. Little does he re[...]
Francis Saxover and Diana Brackley, two scientists investigating a rare lichen, discover it has a remarkable property: it retards the aging process. Francis, realising the implications for the world of an ever-youthful, wealthy elite, wants to keep it secret, but Diana sees an opportunity to overtur[...]
It started with fireballs raining down from the sky and crashing into the oceans' deeps. Then ships began sinking mysteriously and later 'sea tanks' emerged from the deeps to claim people. For journalists Mike and Phyllis Watson, what at first appears to be a curiosity becomes a global calamity. Hel[...]
When a freak cosmic event renders most of the Earth's population blind, Bill Masen is one of the lucky few to retain his sight. The London he walks is crammed with groups of men and women needing help, some ready to prey on those who can still see. But another menace stalks blind and sighted alike. [...]
In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious. A day later the object is gone and everyone awakens unharmed - except that all the women in the village are discovered to be pregnant. The resultant children of Midwich do not belon[...]
In a city that could well be New York, a series of identical women are found dead in suspicious circumstances. Magazine photographer Johnny Farthing, who is reporting on the suspected murders, is chilled to discover that his fiancee looks identical to the victims too - and then she disappears. As hi[...]
A powerful post-apocalyptic allegory of persecution and intolerance, the "Penguin Modern Classics" edition of John Wyndham's science fiction masterpiece "The Day of the Triffids" contains an introduction by M. John Harrison. Nuclear war has devastated the world, bringing with it a host of genetic mu[...]
When Bill Masen wakes up blindfolded in hospital there is a bitter irony in his situation. Carefully removing his bandages, he realizes that he is the only person who can see: everyone else, doctors and patients alike, have been blinded by a meteor shower. Now, with civilization in chaos, the triffi[...]
Matthew's parents are worried. At eleven, he's much too old to have an imaginary friend, yet they find him talking to and arguing with a presence that even he admits is not physically there. This presence - Chocky - causes Matthew to ask difficult questions and say startling things: he speaks of com[...]
The most famous catastrophe novel of the twentieth century, John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. 'When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.' When a freak co[...]
In this thrilling collection of stories, John Wyndham, author of the acclaimed classics The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos, conducts ten experiments along the theme of 'I wonder what might happen if...' There's the story of the meteor, which holds much more than meets the eye. In Chrono[...]
The classic scifi alien invasion novel tells the suspenseful tale of the Triffid attack on Earth, which wreaks havoc across the planet as a grotesque form of plant life, harmful to humankind, terrorizes human civilization. Reader's Guide included. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.[...]
The beginning of the end seemed harmless enough: a night of mysterious green flashes in the sky. When people woke up blind the next morning, civilization suddenly ground to a halt.
And then the triffids began to move in . . .
Facing loneliness, confusion, and constant threats f[...]
Contemporary / British English The island of Tanakuatua seems like heaven to the forty people who go there to create a new society. But soon they start to die in a horrible way. Something strange is in the forest. Two of the group decide to fight![...]
On 6 CD's. Genetic mutation has devastated the world. In the bleak, primitive society that has emerged from its ruins, any sign of deviation is ruthlessly hunted out and destroyed. David lies in fear of discovery, for he is part of a secret group of children who are able to communicate with each oth[...]
The Triffids are a monstrous species of stinging plant; they walk, they talk, they dominate the world...The narrator of this superbly terrifying novel wakes up in hospital to find that, by missing the end of the world as he knew it, he has survived to witness a new one. But the new world that awaits[...]
Bill Nighy, Sarah Parish, Barbara Shelley and Peter Sallis are among the cast in these six classic BBC Radio dramatisations. John Wyndham's quietly menacing post-apocalyptic tales are enduringly popular, and these gripping, atmospheric radio adaptations of his classic fiction are resonant with terro[...]
Journalist Mike Watson and his wife, Phylis, trace it back to the strange showering lights they noticed on the final day of their honeymoon cruise: lights which appeared to land and disappear into the water. Reports mount of similar sightings all over the world. Governments embark on missions to inv[...]