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The Day of the Triffids

By: John Wyndham
Narrated by: Kingsley Ben-Adir
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Publisher's Summary

In 1951 John Wyndham published his novel The Day of the Triffids to moderate acclaim. Fifty-two years later, this horrifying story is a science-fiction classic, touted by The Times (London) as having 'all the reality of a vividly realised nightmare'.

Bill Masen, bandages over his wounded eyes, misses the most spectacular meteorite shower England has ever seen. Removing his bandages the next morning, he finds masses of sightless people wandering the city. He soon meets Josella, another lucky person who has retained her sight, and together they leave the city, aware that the safe, familiar world they knew a mere 24 hours before is gone forever.

But to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, one must survive the Triffids, strange plants that years before began appearing all over the world. The Triffids can grow to over seven feet tall, pull their roots from the ground to walk and kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers. With society in shambles, they are now poised to prey on humankind. Wyndham chillingly anticipates bio-warfare and mass destruction, 50 years before their realisation, in this prescient account of Cold War paranoia.

About the author: John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Benyon Harris was born in 1903, the son of a barrister. He tried a number of careers including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, and started writing short stories, intended for sale, in 1925. From 1930 to 1939 he wrote stories of various kinds under different names, almost exclusively for American publications, while also writing detective novels. During the war he was in the Civil Service and then the Army. In 1946 he went back to writing stories for publication in the USA and decided to try a modified form of science fiction, a form he called 'logical fantasy'.

©1951 John Wyndham (P)2021 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about The Day of the Triffids

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Two Thumbs Up

Kingsley Ben-Adir narrates this very well. I highly recommend this Audio book to all.

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Appropriate reading for COVID times.

Even though many are probably familiar with the story, the reading is excellent and gives the book new life.
Well done.

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A Novel I've previously avoided

Back in the late 1970s this was a set text during high school... not sure why, but for some reason I neglected to read it. Better late than never. e
Enjoyed the philosophical side of the story. Thought provoking!

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Masterpiece!

Wonderful book and great narration. One of my all time favourites. Enjoyable from start to finish.

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Narrator is horrendous!

The narrator was so monotoníc and reading punctuated poorly. Ruins a good classic story.
Shame.

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Terrific triffids

A classic yarn by a master SF writer with an outstanding delivery by Kingsley Ben-Adir.

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Great Classic

Great classic sci-fi tale that for the most has aged well. Brilliantly narrated. Recommend reading.

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Great to revisit my teen years

I really enjoyed going back to the mid fifties to recall the time spent with the Wyndham Scifi stories
The writing is a little dated now, and the narrator tended to get a bit monotonous at times, but overall I really enjoyed listening to this book.

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3 people found this helpful

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Good story.

The story was good. I enjoyed it. The narrator however was hard to listen to for the hours from beginning to end.
Kingsley Ben-Adir in my opinion does not have the voice range to tell a good, convincing story.

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1 person found this helpful

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Thrilling Sci fi

Enjoyed this book for t he second time great narration with excellent characters believable so scarier

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