The Midwich Cuckoos

By: John Wyndham

Narrated by: Stephen Fry

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious. A day later the object is gone, and everyone awakens unharmed - except that all the women in the village are discovered to be pregnant.

The resultant children of Midwich do not belong to their parents: all are blonde, all are golden eyed. They grow up too fast, and their minds exhibit frightening abilities that give them control over others and brings them into conflict with the villagers just as a chilling realisation dawns on the world outside....

The Midwich Cuckoos is the classic tale of aliens in our midst, exploring how we respond when confronted by those who are innately superior to us in every conceivable way.

About the author: John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Benyon Harris was born in 1903, the son of a barrister. He tried a number of careers including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, and started writing short stories, intended for sale, in 1925. From 1930 to 1939 he wrote stories of various kinds under different names, almost exclusively for American publications, while also writing detective novels. During the war he was in the Civil Service and then the Army. In 1946 he went back to writing stories for publication in the USA and decided to try a modified form of science fiction, a form he called 'logical fantasy'.

©2008 John Wyndham (P)2021 Audible, Ltd

great!

Fascinating! Although a little winded, kept me thoroughly entertained. Looking for more novels like this.

Very good book. Good, but inappropriate, narrator.

Wyndham should be read along with Asimov, Orwell, Bradbury, and the other great 20th century science fiction authors. The Midwich Cuckoos finds him in fine form. Perhaps not his best structured novel, but a good one nevertheless. Unfortunately, Stephan Fry’s narration style would better fit lighter fare such as Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster novels. That shouldn’t stop you from giving this audiobook a listen.

Classic sci-fi at it’s absolute best.

This novel is a timeless classic. It’s so much more complex and interesting than it’s movie counterparts. The existential dread is palpable but so is the human compassion. I can’t believe I waited so long to read this. I grew up watch both versions of Village of the Damned and they will always hold a special place but they have a fraction of the depth or complexity. I miss this kind of sci-fi.

Loved it

Great narration
And captivating story that took me 2 days to listen to would highly recommend it

Loved this book.

I saw the movies before reading the book and they didn't do it justice in my opinion. I loved this story, I liked the characters and Stephen Fry did a phenomenal job narrating it.

a delightlfully evil little sci-fi story

Remember this was published in 1957 so the arguments of evolution and descent of humans are severely outdated, other than that, I loved the story which is very believable due to the beautiful writing

Stephen Fry is a national treasure!

I purchased this audiobook as soon as it was released because of my love for John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids and because of the pleasant surprise that it was narrated by Stephen Fry.

The first thing i should mention is that Stephen Fry is amazing as a narrator. This book does not test his range of characters as well as the Harry Potter books or The Complete Sherlock Holmes, but he is a master of narration and his reading improved upon the book itself.

For the book itself, I found the story interesting but not overly engaging. The main character feels so distant from the story that there is never a sense of danger ir tension. Seemed more like a book written as a socialogist's take on an alien race of humans than a fully fleshed out novel. Still, it was interesting an entertaining.

Very interesting story and an unusual premise

Very well thought out sci-fi using an angle I would have never considered.
The book was recommended by Geddy Lee in his autobiography "My Effin' Life" which is another great listen.