6 h 44 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a child understands more than every adult around him, yet finds no place among them?
In a quiet English village, Victor Stott is born with an unusually large head and a mind beyond anyone he meets. His father, Ginger Stott, knows cricket but cannot grasp his son. As Victor grows, his difference unsettles the ordinary world around him.
Challis, a learned neighbour with a library, sees a mind where others see a curiosity. He tries to befriend and teach Victor. In The Hampdenshire Wonder, J. D. Beresford brings science fiction into village life, asking how people respond to someone whose understanding reaches far beyond their own.
What you’ll discover
- An extraordinary outsider Meet a child who sees problems the adults around him do not even recognise.
- A village under strain Watch ordinary neighbours try to make sense of a boy unlike any they know.
- A scholar reaches out Follow Challis as he tries to meet Victor with thought rather than mere curiosity.
- The limits of understanding Consider whether greater knowledge brings connection, or leaves a person further apart from others.
- Quiet, searching science fiction Enter a measured story where one strange fact challenges the familiar shape of village life.
Who will love it
For readers who love early science fiction built on one big idea, quiet English settings and thoughtful stories about gifted outsiders, knowledge and loneliness.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A strange child is born in Hampdenshire
- The child grows faster than anyone expects
- A scholar sees what others cannot
- Society tries to make sense of him
- What the book says about knowledge and loneliness
- How Beresford tells the story
Who’s who
- Victor StottA child with an unusually large head and a mind far beyond that of any adult he meets, who stands apart from ordinary life.
- Ginger StottVictor's father, a plain man known locally for his skill at cricket, who cannot grasp what kind of son he has.
- ChallisA learned neighbour with a library, who sees Victor as a mind rather than a curiosity and tries to befriend and teach him.
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Das Wunder von Hampdenshire
by J. D. Beresford · 1911
Victor Stott has a mind beyond any adult's, but his quiet English village has no place for him.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A strange child is born in Hampdenshire
The story opens in the English countryside of Hampdenshire, a county Beresford invents. The setting is a village, with a doctor, a clergyman, a gentleman scholar and working families. Life there moves slowly and few things disturb it. Into this world is born Victor Stott.
His father is Ginger Stott, a man known locally for his skill at cricket. He is a plain, physical man, not a thinker. His mother is an ordinary woman too, and neither parent understands what they have made. The reader sees the first sign at once. The baby has a head of remarkable size, and the people who see it do not know what to say.
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What is The Hampdenshire Wonder about?
It follows Victor Stott, a boy born in an English village with an enormous head and an intellect far beyond that of any adult. The novel shows how family, neighbours and society react to a mind they cannot understand.
Who wrote The Hampdenshire Wonder and when?
J. D. Beresford, an English novelist, wrote it. It was first published in 1911, in the Edwardian period, and was his first novel. It was well received and is still read as an early work of science fiction.
Is The Hampdenshire Wonder science fiction?
Yes, in the sense that it builds on one speculative idea, a human being of vastly superior intelligence. It has no machines or space travel. The setting is an ordinary English village, and the story is realistic in tone.
The author
J. D. Beresford
1873–1947 · English novelist
J. D. Beresford was John Davys Beresford, a British novelist and short-story writer. He was born in Castor, Northamptonshire, in 1873 and died in Bath in 1947. He worked as an architect before becoming a writer. His novels include The Hampdenshire Wonder, published in 1911, and Goslings, published in 1913.
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