Book description
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 triffids - huge, venomous, large-rooted
plants able to 'walk', feeding on human flesh - can have their day.
The Day of the Triffids, published in 1951, expresses many of
the political concerns of its time: the Cold War, the fear of
biological experimentation and the man-made apocalypse. However, with
its terrifyingly believable insights into the genetic modification of
plants, the book is more relevant today than ever before.
Contains an introduction by Barry Langford.
John Wyndham was born in 1903. After a wide experience of the English
preparatory school he was at Bedales from 1918 to 1921. Careers which he
tried included farming, law, commercial art, and advertising, and he
first started writing short stories, intended for sale, in 1925. During
the war he was in the Civil Service and afterwards in the Army. In 1946
he began writing his major science fiction novels including "The
Kraken Wakes", "The Chrysalids" and "The Midwich
Cuckoos".
