In 1951 John Wyndham published a short novel to moderate acclaim. Now, more than fifty years later, this horrifying story has become a science fiction classic. Bill Masen, bandages over his wounded eyes, misses the most spectacular meteor shower the world has ever seen. He awakens to an eerily silent London, soon realizing that his misfortune was his greatest stroke of luck. Masses of sightless people -- everyone who saw the meteors -- wander the city. He soon meets Josella, a young woman who was similarly lucky, and together they leave the city, aware that the safe, familiar life they enjoyed a mere twenty-four hours before is gone forever. But to survive in this postapocalyptic world, one must survive the Triffids, strange plants that can grow to over seven feet tall, kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers, and pull up their roots and move. With society in shambles, these plants are now able to prey on humankind. Wyndham chillingly envisions biowarfare and mass destruction in an account that seems even more prescient today than when it first appeared at the height of cold war paranoia.