The War of the Worlds

The most famous example of invasion literature and first published in 1898, The War of the Worlds has inspired countless science fiction stories and novels. After a dramatic series of shooting stars are seen tearing across the night sky, a gigantic cylinder descends from Mars and lands near London. Inquisitive locals gather round only to be struck down by a murderous heat-ray. Giant destructive machines climb out the crater formed by the cylinder destroying everything in their path on a merciless march towards London. Can humanity survive this onslaught? A gripping adventure written in semi-documentary style filled with scenes of flight, despair and panic this is also a very human story about pride, fear and the promise of recovery.

This Macmillan Collector’s Library edition features a new introduction by author James Blaylock

Designed to appeal to the booklover, Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound hardback gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers and gilt edges, Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Herbert George Wells was born in Kent in 1866, the son of a shop keeper and a lady’s maid. A bookish child his education was interrupted when he served a brief and gruelling apprenticeship to a draper. He then went on to study biology under the great T. H. Huxley. He found instant literary success with the publication of his first ‘scientific romance’, The Time Machine in 1895 followed by The Island of Dr Moreau in 1896 and The War of the Worlds in 1898. After a brief marriage to a cousin, he married Catherine Robbins, who had been one of his students. A lifelong socialist and visionary, he also wrote extensively on social issues, history and science. He died in 1946.