‘Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change.’

A cornerstone of the dystopian science fiction genre, The Time Machine is a thrilling adventure through time and space by one of England’s most beloved authors: H.G. Wells.

A brilliant inventor – known as the ‘Time Traveller’ – builds a machine that has the power to transcend the laws of reality itself. Transported far into the future to the year 802,701, our adventurous protagonist discovers a humanity that is eerily split into two: the gentle, childlike humanoids of the Eloi and the pale, ape-like Morlocks who only surface when night falls. As the Time Traveller begins to unravel this perplexing new world, he unveils sinister truths surrounding class, evolution and the fate of civilisation. A damning social warning and an alarming hunch about the planet’s dying trajectory, Wells’s seminal classic established time travel as a literary genre, and remains hauntingly relevant to this day.

H.G. Wells (1866 – 1946) was a novelist, journalist, sociologist and historian. His work spanned many genres, including horror, science-fiction, social commentary, politics and history. He wrote over fifty novels and dozens of short stories in his lifetime; many of his works remain influential still today.