The Day of The Triffids

While the world's population gazes at the night sky at a mysterious meteor shower, Bill Masen lies blindfolded in a hospital bed. Ironically, when he wakes the next morning, he finds the blindfold has saved him from blindness has been inflicted on everyone.

Wyndham's classic novel twists the apocalypse novel by making the adversary - not a living dead version of ourselves, but rather, something ignored in our dominance. The Triffids are introduced as a flesh eating curiosity, the plants however, though dangerous, are not feared or seen as a threat. Now, with humanity left sightless, chaos ensues as the Triffids have their day, walking the Earth.

Part of a wave of post-apocalyptic novels which focus on biological modifications to flora; intentional or otherwise, Wyndham's is perhaps the most well-known. A suspenseful horror story which comments not only on the political climate of its day, but also themes which concern us today in ways Wyndham was only hypothesising.