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Richard and Janet Gayford happened to spend the night of September 26 in London, not returning to their home in the village of Midwich until the following day. Only they have difficulty getting back into Midwich, and -- in ways that are difficult to isolate -- the village does not seem to be the same place it was the day before. The nightmare that descends on Midwich has dire implications for the rest of the world, sowing the seeds of a master race of ruthless, inhuman creatures bent on total domination.John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos, published in 1957, is better known by the more sensational title of its two film adaptations, Village of the Damned. In the author's typically elegant and calm manner, the novel explores the arrival on earth of a collective intelligence that threatens to eliminate humankind. The eerie change that befalls Midwich manifests itself in strange ways. On the surface, everything seems normal but there is a vague sense of dread everywhere and in everyone. Also, suddenly and inexplicably after the night of September 26, every woman of the appropriate age is pregnant. They will give birth at the same time, to children who are all alike -- their eyes mesmerizing, devoid of emotion, innately possessed with unimaginable mental powers and formidable native intelligence. The children develop into an unstoppable force, capable of anything, far outstripping mere humans in guile and cunning. The threat to the human race is unmistakable.Wyndham writes his fantastic story in a precise, almost bemused manner that sometimes seems almost droll. London's Evening Standard called The Midwich Cuckoos "humane and urbane with a lightly sophisticated wit putting the ideas into shape." The Spectator noted that Wyndham "provides just that right amount of semi-realistic data ... to soothe his readers into a mood of acceptance, and his poker-faced attitude towards the strange and improbable events which he records is also exactly calculated." Wyndham skillfully heightens the terror by making his narrative so rational and matter-of-fact. In a nuclear age, it is richly ironic that the forces of evil take shape in a picturesque, bucolic English village, in the form of eerily angelic looking children. The Midwich Cuckoos is a contemporary classic of speculative fiction, like Wyndham's best work, so cleverly imagined, that it has lost none of it sting in the more than 40 years since it was published.
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The Midwich Cuckoos (S.F. Masterworks) [Hardcover] [Sep 08, 2016] John Wyndham (author)
Mar 08, 2001, Ballantine Books
1473212693 9781473212695
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Midwich Cuckoos (Penguin Modern Classics)
June 4, 2000, Penguin Putnam~trade
014118146X 9780141181462
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The Midwich Cuckoos
August 1999, Buccaneer Books, Buccaneer Books, Incorporated
Library Binding
in English
0899683878 9780899683874
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Midwich Cuckoos
November 1999, CSA WORD
Audio cassette
- Unabridged edition
1901768481 9781901768480
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Le village des damnés
January 1, 1995, Denoël
Mass Market Paperback
in French
2207300285 9782207300282
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The Midwich cuckoos
1983, Chivers, Chivers Press
in English
- Large print ed.
0851192246 9780851192246
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The Midwich Cuckoos
April 12, 1980, Del Rey, Random House Publishing Group
Mass Market Paperback
in English
0345288211 9780345288219
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The Midwich Cuckoos
May 12, 1976, Ballantine Books, Random House Publishing Group
Mass Market Paperback
in English
0345248732 9780345248732
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The Midwich Cuckoos (Ballantine Classic, 02763)
1972, Ballantine Books
Mass Market Paperback
- Fourth edition
0345027639 9780345027634
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The Midwich Cuckoos
Sep 05, 1959, Ballantine Books Inc.
mass market paperback
0345227638 9780345227638
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Work Description
In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious. A day later the object is gone and everyone awakens unharmed – except that all the women in the village are discovered to be pregnant.The resultant children of Midwich do not belong to their parents: all are blonde, all are golden eyed. They grow up too fast and their minds exhibit frightening abilities that give them control over others and brings them into conflict with the villagers just as a chilling realisation dawns on the world outside . . .The Midwich Cuckoos is the classic tale of aliens in our midst, exploring how we respond when confronted by those who are innately superior to us in every conceivable way.
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