The Time Machine by H G Wells

The Time Machine by H G Wells

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“In a moment I was clutched by several hands, and there was no mistaking that they were trying to haul me back . . . You can scarce imagine how nauseatingly inhuman they looked – those pale chinless faces and great, lidless, pinkish-grey eyes!”

An English scientist regales his dinner guests with the tale of his travels to the year 802,701, where he discovers that the human race has evolved into two distinct societies. The Eloi, elegant and peaceful, yet lacking spirit, are terrorised by the sinister, light-fearing Morlocks, who live underground, surrounded by industry. And when his time machine mysteriously vanishes, the scientist must descend to the realm of the Morlocks in order to find his only hope of escape . . .

H. G. Wells is considered a founding father of modern science fiction, coining the term ‘time machine’ and popularising the idea of time travel in literature.

‘[Wells’ work is] astonishingly rich in human and historical interest … he foresaw the invention of, among other things, television, tanks, aerial warfare and the atom bomb’ David Lodge

‘[Wells] contrives to give over humanity into the clutches of the Impossible and yet manages to keep it down (or up) to its humanity, to its flesh, blood, sorrow, folly’ Joseph Conrad

‘I personally consider the greatest of English living writers [to be] HG. Wells’ Upton Sinclair

‘The father of science fiction’ Guardian

H. G. Wells was a prolific author and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. He is best remembered for his science fiction novels, and is considered a founding father of the genre. His most notable works include The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds. He died in 1946.