The Children of Men
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3.9 • 99 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
A modern science fiction classic from an acclaimed bestselling author: The year is 2021. No child has been born for twenty-five years. The human race faces extinction.
"A book of such accelerating tension that the pages seem to turn faster as one moves along." —Chicago Tribune
Civilization itself is crumbling as suicide and despair become commonplace. Oxford historian Theodore Faron, apathetic toward a future without a future, spends most of his time reminiscing. Then he is approached by Julian, a bright, attractive woman who wants him to help get her an audience with his cousin, the powerful Warden of England. She and her band of unlikely revolutionaries may just awaken his desire to live . . . and they may also hold the key to survival for the human race.
Told with P. D. James’s trademark suspense, insightful characterization, and riveting storytelling, The Children of Men is a story of a world with no children and no future.
The inspiration for director Alfonso Cuarón's modern masterpiece of a film.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her 12th book, the British author of the two series featuring Adam Dalgleish and Cordelia Gray ( Devices and Desires and An Unsuitable Job for a Woman , respectively) poses a premise that chills and darkens its setting in the year 2021. Near the end of the 20th century, for reasons beyond the grasp of modern science, human sperm count went to zero. The last birth occurred in 1995, and in the space of a generation humanity has lost its future. In England, under the rule of an increasingly despotic Warden, the infirm are encouraged to commit group suicide, criminals are exiled and abandoned and immigrants are subjected to semi-legalized slavery. Divorced, middle-aged Oxford history professor Theo Faron, an emotionally constrained man of means and intelligence who is the Warden's cousin, plods through an ordered, bleak existence. But a chance involvement with a group of dissidents moves him onto unexpected paths, leading him, in the novel's compelling second half, toward risk, commitment and the joys and anguish of love. In this convincingly detailed world--where kittens are (illegally) christened, sex has lost its allure and the arts have been abandoned--James concretely explores an unthinkable prospect. Readers should persevere through the slow start, for the rewards of this story, including its reminder of the transforming power of hope, are many and lasting. 125,000 first printing; BOMC main selection.
Customer Reviews
An ode to the future
Reading the book for the first time in the year 2021 was both delightful and chilling. Time stood still with the swipe of each page
Waste of timr
Beyond borrowing. The dumbest story I’ve ever read
The Children of Men
This book is so inspiring and emotional. I read it once before for school and couldn't put it down. Great read.