John Wyndham Popular Books
John Wyndham Biography & Facts
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes. Some of his works were set in post-apocalyptic landscapes. His best known works include The Day of the Triffids (1951), filmed in 1962, and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), which was filmed in 1960 as Village of the Damned, in 1995 under the same title, and again in 2022 in Sky Max under its original title. Biography Early life Wyndham was born in the village of Dorridge near Knowle, Warwickshire (now West Midlands), England, the son of Gertrude Parkes, the daughter of the Birmingham ironmaster John Israel Parkes, and her second husband (after widowhood), George Beynon Harris, a barrister. From 1909 to 1911 the Harris family lived at 239 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, but when he was 8 years old his parents separated. His father then attempted to sue the Parkes family for "the custody, control and society" of his wife and two sons (including Wyndham's younger brother, the writer Vivian Beynon Harris), in an unusual and high-profile 1913 court case, which he lost. The case, which re-exposed previous allegations of sexual impropriety, pre-dating his marriage, left Wyndham's father a broken man. Gertrude moved with the children to a smaller house in Edgbaston and the brothers became estranged from their father. Wyndham subsequently attended a private school in Edgbaston run by a Miss Mabel Woodward, and from 1914 to 1915 was at Edgbaston High School for Boys (he later said that while there he was bullied), and Blundell's School in Tiverton, Devon, during the First World War. His longest and final stay was at Bedales School, near Petersfield in Hampshire (1918–1921), which he left at the age of 18. His mother left Birmingham to live in a series of boarding houses and spa hotels. In Wyndham's self-penned biographical notes for his early Penguin Books publications, he said he lived in Birmingham only from 1904 to 1911. Early career After leaving school, Wyndham tried several careers, including farming, law, commercial art and advertising; however, he mostly relied on an allowance from his family to survive. He eventually turned to writing for money in 1925 and by 1931 he was selling short stories and serial fiction to American science fiction magazines. His debut short story, "Worlds to Barter", appeared under the pen name John B. Harris in 1931. Subsequent stories were credited to 'John Beynon Harris' until mid-1935, when he began to use the pen name John Beynon. Three novels as by Beynon were published in 1935/36, two of them works of science fiction, the other a detective story. He also used the pen name Wyndham Parkes for one short story in the British Fantasy Magazine in 1939, as John Beynon had already been credited for another story in the same issue. During these years he lived at the Penn Club, London, which had been opened in 1920 by the remaining members of the Friends Ambulance Unit, and which had been partly funded by the Quakers. The intellectual and political mixture of pacifists, socialists and communists continued to inform his views on social engineering and feminism. At the Penn Club he met his future wife, Grace Wilson, a teacher. They embarked on a long-lasting love affair, and obtained adjacent rooms in the club, but for many years did not marry, partly because of the marriage bar under which Wilson would have lost her position. Second World War During the Second World War, Wyndham first served as a censor in the Ministry of Information. He drew on his experiences as a firewatcher during the London Blitz and as a member of the Home Guard in The Day of the Triffids. He then joined the British Army, serving as a corporal cipher operator in the Royal Corps of Signals. He participated in the Normandy landings, landing a few days after D-Day. He was attached to XXX Corps, which took part in some of the heaviest fighting, including surrounding the trapped German army in the Falaise Pocket. His wartime letters to his long-time partner, Grace Wilson, are now held in the Archives of the University of Liverpool. He wrote at length of his struggles with his conscience, his doubts about humanity and his fears of the inevitability of further war. He also wrote passionately about his love for her and his fears that he would be so tainted she would not be able to love him when he returned. Postwar After the war Wyndham returned to writing, still using the pen name John Beynon. Inspired by the success of his younger brother Vivian Beynon Harris, who had four novels published starting in 1948, he altered his writing style and by 1951, using the John Wyndham pen name for the first time, he wrote the novel The Day of the Triffids. His pre-war writing career was not mentioned in the book's publicity and people were allowed to assume that this was a first novel from an unknown writer. The book had an enormous success and established Wyndham as an important exponent of science fiction. He wrote and published six more novels under the name John Wyndham, the name he used professionally from 1951. His novel The Outward Urge (1959) was credited to John Wyndham and Lucas Parkes but Lucas Parkes was another pseudonym for Wyndham. Two story collections, Jizzle and The Seeds of Time, were published in the 1950s under Wyndham's name but included several stories originally published as by John Beynon before 1951. Marriage In 1963, he married Grace Isobel Wilson, whom he had known for more than thirty years, in a civil ceremony. They lived near Petersfield, Hampshire, just outside the grounds of Bedales School, until his death there in 1969, aged 65. The couple were childless, as was his brother, who also outlived him. Critical reception Wyndham's reputation rests mainly on the first four of the novels published in his life under that name. The Day of the Triffids remains his best-known work, but some readers consider that The Chrysalids was really his best. This is set in the far future of a post-nuclear dystopia where genetic stability is compromised and women are severely oppressed if they give birth to "mutants". David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, wrote of it: "One of the most thoughtful post-apocalypse novels ever written. Wyndham was a true English visionary, a William Blake with a science doctorate." The Guardian states his "innocuously English backdrops are central to the power of his novels, implying that apocalypse could occur at any time — or, indeed, be happening in the next village at this moment", while The Times's reviewer of The Day of the Triffids described it as possessing "all the reality of a vividly realised nightmare." The ideas in The Chrysalids are echoed in The Handmaid's Tale, whose author, Margaret Atwood, has acknowledged Wyndham's work as an influence. She wrote an.... Discover the John Wyndham popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John Wyndham books.
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Das versteckte Volk
John WyndhamDie Wüste lebt!Es ist das ehrgeizigste Projekt, das je unternommen wurde: Die Verwandlung der Sahara in ein künstliches Meer. Doch niemand ahnt, dass ein Volk von Pygmäen in den ri...
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Ai Weiwei Speaks
Hans Ulrich Obrist'If artists betray the social conscience and the basic principles of being human, where does art stand then?' Ai Weiwei artist, architect, curator, publisher, poet and urbanist e...
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Die Reise zum Mars
John WyndhamDrei … Zwei … Eins … Liftoff!Im Jahre 1981 ist es soweit: Zusammen mit vier Gefährten startet der britische Raketenbauer, Multimillionär und Abenteurer Dale Curtance von Salisbury ...
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Web
John WyndhamA remarkable anticolonialist novel by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliantand neglectedscience fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of sci...
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A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair
Nicholas FiskAt the end of the 22nd century, following a nuclear accident, the birth rate is falling.Faced with a rapidly shrinking human race, governments come up with a solution: new people f...
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Horror Stories
Edith NesbitA groom promises to be at the church on time, even if he has to come back from the grave to do it.A man inherits a property where he discovers a portrait of a woman that will chang...
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The Sign of One
Eugene LambertOne for sorrow, two for death&On Wrath, a dumpworld for human outcasts, identical twins are feared. Only one will grow up human, while the other becomes a condemned monster...
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The Long Forever
Eugene LambertTHE EPIC FINALE IN THE SIGN OF ONE TRILOGY!Kyle and Sky escape from wrath only to find themselves caught up in a vicious criminal underworld. Faster, stronger, and quicker to heal,...
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Stowaway to Mars
John Wyndham & Lincoln MichelA space opera set on Mars by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliantand neglectedscience fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of science fict...
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Snakeskins
Tim MajorA timely sciencefiction thriller examining the repercussions of rejuvenation and cloning on individuals' sense of identity and on wider society.Caitlin Hext's first shedding ceremo...
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Ivanhoe
Walter ScottOne of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World''Fight on, brave knights! Man dies, but glory lives!'Banished from England for seeking to marry against his father's wishes, Ivan...
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The Midwich Cuckoos
John Wyndham & Kelly LinkA genredefining tale of first contact by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliantand neglectedscience fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of ...
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Getting Hurt
Andrew DaviesIn his own words, Charlie Cross is a bloke in love. A harddrinking, chainsmoking lawyer, he is welloff, divorced and heading for trouble. When he meets Viola in an afterhours drink...
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A Study in Scarlet
Arthur Conan Doyle'There's a scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.'From the moment Dr Joh...
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Trouble with Lichen
John Wyndham & Kate FolkA “sharp, amusing story” (The Guardian) about the fountain of youth and its implications for women’s rights, by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliantand neglectedscience fi...
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The Outward Urge
John Wyndham & Lucas ParkesA hard science fiction masterpiece, perfect for fans of Kim Stanley Robinson, by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliantand neglectedwriters, whom Stephen King called “the be...
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Griff nach den Sternen
John WyndhamChronik der WeltraumpioniereSeit Menschengedenken locken uns die Sterne und das unendliche All – und wir konnten diesem Ruf nicht widerstehen. Also brachen die Menschen ins All auf...
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Northanger Abbey
Jane Austen'Jane Austen is a genius, and Northanger Abbey is hugely underrated' Martin AmisWith its irrepressible heroine and playful literary games, Northanger Abbey is the most youthful and...
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Hope Island
Tim MajorA gripping supernatural mystery for fans of John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos from the author of Snakeskins.Workaholic TV news producer Nina Scaife is determined to fight for her ...
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Foul Play Suspected
John WyndhamA rediscovered, outstandingly prescient crime novel written in the leadup to World War II, by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliantand neglectedscience fiction and horror w...
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Plan for Chaos
John WyndhamA wild ride from one of the twentieth century’s most brilliantand neglectedscience fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of science fiction that Eng...
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The Palace of Eros
Delver MaddingleyThe glamorous world of erotic publishing is the setting for the Captain's latest salacious venture, and, as ever, he enters into it with gusto. But the Jack of all trades can't do ...
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This Fragile Earth
Susannah WiseWhat would you do to protect your family if the world stopped working?Not long from now, in a recognisable yet changed London, Signy and Matthew lead a dull, difficult life. They'v...
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The Naked Drinking Club
Rhona Cameron'It was dark when I came to. What woke me was the cold and the water on my legs. I was doing spoons with Scotty, me behind him. We were on a beach. We didn't speak for the first mi...
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No Lady
Saskia Hope30yearold Kate walks out of her job, dumps her boyfriend and goes off in search of adventure. And she finds it. Held captive in the Pyrenees by five men who believe they can do wha...
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Kolyma Tales
Varlan ShalamovIt is estimated that some three million people died in the Soviet forcedlabour camps of Kolyma, in the northeastern area of Siberia. Shalamov himself spent seventeen years there, a...
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Hedda Gabler and Other Plays
Henrik Ibsen & Una Ellis-FermorIn these three unforgettably intense plays, Henrik Ibsen explores the problems of personal and social morality that he perceived in the world around him and, in particular, the com...
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Into the No-Zone
Eugene LambertWhat price for peace on Wrath? The bloodcurdling sequel to sciencefiction epic The Sign of One.Hiding out in a Gemini stronghold, Kyle is finding out that being a hero is a bit of ...
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Skein Island
Aliya WhiteleyFrom the author of The Loosening Skin and The Beauty, Aliya Whiteley, Skein Island is a powerful and disturbing look at the roles we play, and how they form and divide us. Thi...
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Es geschah am Tage X
John WyndhamDas Dorf der VerdammtenIn der Nacht vom 26. auf den 27. September geschieht in dem kleinen, verschlafenen Örtchen Midwich in Großbritannien etwas Unglaubliches: die Telefonleitunge...
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A Taste of Amber
Penny BirchExpelled from school for spanking a head mistress, Amber Oakley finds herself in disgrace and is sent to work on a farm. Introduced to the strange delights of the world of ponygirl...
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The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham & Jeff VanderMeerThe influential masterpiece of one of the twentieth century’s most brilliantand neglectedscience fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of science fi...
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Elliott W. Hudgins and John L. Hudgins, Appellants v. Wyndham Kemp
United States Supreme CourtThis is an appeal from a decree of the Circuit Court of the United States for the eastern district of Virginia. The bill was filed by the assignee of the bankrupt, J. L. Hudgins, a...
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The Kraken Wakes
John Wyndham & Alexandra KleemanAn “ingenious, horrifying” (The Guardian) first contact story by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliantand neglectedscience fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King cal...
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How to Make a Triffid
Kelly LagorA chilling tale of science, science fiction, and how we break."Promising work from this firsttime author. The author makes good use of the science in the story."Locus At the Publis...
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From the Neck Up and Other Stories
Aliya Whiteley“Feels like a major collection” – The Washington PostA short fiction collection to stand with Ted Chiang's Exhalation and Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners.The new collection o...