The Day of the Triffids

The Day of the Triffids is a 1951 work of dystopian science fiction by British author John Wyndham (a pen name). The book established his place as a notable science fiction writer and remains his most popular novel. It has been adapted for both screen and radio. It was nominated in 1952 for the International Fantasy Award and is the inspiration for 28 Days Later, a cult-favorite zombie movie.

Plot Summary

William “Bill” Masen, a British biologist, is temporarily blinded at work when he is stung by the venomous plant he is researching known as a triffid. This event lands him in a London hospital with bandaged eyes, causing him to miss viewing a comet as it passes the earth. The next morning, most of the world’s population is stricken with unexplained blindness, Anyone who did not watch the comet, like Bill, retain their vision. 

In the immediate aftermath, sighted people become targets; blind people despise them but need them in order to survive. Violence and mob mentality ensue as people become increasingly desperate. Adding to the chaos are the triffids. When these mysterious plants first appeared, they frightened humankind with their deadly stings and ability to walk. However, they were soon farmed for their oils and rendered harmless when their stingers were docked or removed. With no one to hold them in check or dock them, however, the species begins preying on humans. 

As he makes his way through an anarchic London, Bill saves Josella Playton, a sighted woman who is infamous for writing a book about women’s sexual empowerment. Bill and Josella form a bond and a desire to find other sighted people. They meet a group of survivors, led by Michael Beadley, that formed a society where mandatory procreation will be instituted to repopulate the world with sighted people. This causes Bill to question everything, but Josella feels it is the only way to ensure humanity’s survival. 

Before the group can begin its journey to a safer environment, a man named Coker launches an ambush and takes many sighted people hostage, separating Bill and Josella. He then forces the sighted survivors to each look after a group of blind people. A mysterious sickness begins killing people indiscriminately, and Bill and Josella are freed from their duties after their groups die—but not before Bill sees a man named Torrence murder an sick blind man.

Bill races to find Josella, whose whereabouts are unknown. In the process, he meets Coker again, who now acknowledges that his plan was doomed to fail. After crossing paths with a group of Christian survivors holed up in Tynsham manor, Bill and Coker set out to find Josella and other survivors. The pair decides to separate when they meet a small trio of sighted people. 

On this leg of the journey, Bill befriends a young sighted girl named Susan, and they eventually make it to Sussex Downs, where they find Josella and three blind adults on a farm. As years pass, the group forms a family—in addition to this adopted form, Bill and Josella have several children—and try to beat back the triffids, which are not only growing in numbers but also in cunning.

One day, Bill and Josella encounter an old pilot friend from Beadley’s group who extends an offer of sanctuary on the Isle of Wight, where the triffids have been eradicated. As the family considers this, Torrence, now a colonel in a feudal-like organization, arrives on the farm. He intends for Bill and Josella to watch over 20 blind people on the farm, using them as slave labor, and plans to take Susan away. Bill manages to trick Torrence, leaving him at the mercy of a gang of triffids while Bill and his family flee to the Isle of Wight. The novel ends with Bill hoping that, once safely on the island, he and the other sighted inhabitants will figure out a way to destroy the triffids for good.