Before You Begin

Before you begin.

The first warning comes from far beyond Earth: astronomers observe strange flashes on Mars, and an object falls near the English town of Woking. Before anyone can decide what it means, curiosity gives way to fear. H. G. Wells begins with ordinary people trying to make sense of an event that has no place in their familiar world.

Published in 1898, The War of the Worlds turns that uncertainty into a journey across Surrey and London. Its unnamed narrator sees the crisis from the ground, among neighbors, crowds, and roads suddenly made unfamiliar. At the same time, his younger brother faces the upheaval from another part of the country. Their separate paths let Wells move between one household's bewilderment and the shock of a city under pressure.

Wells's science fiction still feels immediate because it asks how quickly confidence can fail when the world changes. The novel watches people interpret what they see, argue over what is possible, and decide where to go next. Its landscapes are both recognizably English and newly strange.

The illustrated companion that follows gathers the people, places, connections, and defining moments of the novel. Begin with the cast and the ground beneath their feet; then turn to the story itself, one chapter at a time.