‘The Day of the Triffids’ by John Wyndham

My Review (5 stars out of 5)

(Audiobook)

In hospital for an eye operation, Bill Masen misses an unusually bright meteorite shower during the night. The next morning, disturbed that no-one has come to remove the bandages, he takes them off himself and discovers everyone who witnessed the phenomenon is now unable to see. Meeting Josella, who can also see, he sets off to forge some kind of life in a very changed world. But a strange species of plant known as Triffids, are slowly invading the city. Attacking everyone they come across, they lash out with poisonous stingers – rendering their victims either dead or permanently blinded.

First published in 1951 The Day of the Triffids was hailed as a sci-fi classic, predicting the collapse of society amid an unforeseen enemy. As a teenager, I read the book six or seven times and for many years afterwards considered it to be the best novel ever written. Listening to the audiobook version, the tale has lost none of its power, though the writing isn’t quite as exciting as I remember. Like many books written at that time, there are the usual clunky dialogue tags and an abundance of cliches, however, it is still a great story and well worth another look.

A perfect example of apocalyptic fiction.

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