Greybeard (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Brian W. Aldiss
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—post-holocaust
- Time of Work: 2029 and beyond
- Setting: England and Washington, D.C.
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction, Apocalyptic and catastrophe fiction
- Subjects: Twenty-first century, England or English people, Washington, D.C., Infertility, Nuclear accidents
- Locales: England, Washington, D.C.
The Plot
A plague of stoats convinces Greybeard and his wife, Martha, to leave the isolated English village of Sparcot. They take to the river Thames with their friend Charley Samuels and two other villagers, Becky and Towin Thomas. The group takes refuge downstream. Jeff Pitt, a poacher, finds them sheltering in the house of a man who committed suicide after the death of his wife.
In his late forties, Greybeard—born Algernon Timberlane—is one of the last people born before the nuclear experiments euphemistically called the Accident disrupted the Van Allen belts and...
[The entire page is 1016 words long]
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