8 h 18 minAudiobook7 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 dusty shop held a window to another world, and an ordinary man's wishes could change everything?
In Tales of Space and Time, H. G. Wells gives ordinary lives a startling turn. In The Crystal Egg, London curio dealer Mr. Cave discovers a distant world inside a strange object. In The Star, astronomers notice a new body approaching, and the whole Earth faces a threat from the sky.
A Story of the Days to Come follows Denton and Elizabeth as they struggle to build a life in a vast future London divided by wealth. The Man Who Could Work Miracles gives George McWhirter Fotheringay a power he never believes possible. Across these tales, wonder meets a sharp question: what can small human beings do when their world changes?
What you’ll discover
- A window beyond Earth Peer through Mr. Cave's crystal egg, where a shabby shop opens onto something vast.
- Danger in the sky Watch astronomers confront a discovery that makes everyday human concerns seem suddenly small.
- Love in a divided city Follow Denton and Elizabeth through a future where wealth shapes the city itself.
- Wishes with real power Meet a man who doubts miracles until he discovers that he can work them.
- Wonder with a sharp edge Explore bold scientific ideas alongside Wells's searching eye for English life and social divisions.
Who will love it
Readers who like science fiction with real people in it, comic tales, and thoughtful what-if stories about science, society and human nature will find plenty here.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A shopkeeper hides a crystal he cannot sell
- A glowing stone opens onto another world
- A strange planet rushes toward Neptune
- One mathematician warns of danger
- A girl flees a tyrant and a boy turns on him
- Bears and a horse test the pair
- Two lovers try to escape a crowded future
- The city gives them work and takes their pride
- A clerk finds his will can bend nature
Who’s who
- George McWhirter FotheringayA small, argumentative clerk who discovers that anything he wills comes true, and who does not know how to use the gift wisely.
- Mr. MaydigAn excitable minister who is delighted by Fotheringay's gift and urges him on to ever bigger miracles.
- Mr. CaveA timid old dealer in curiosities who treasures a crystal egg that shows him a distant world.
- Mr. WaceA clear-minded young scientist who studies the crystal with Cave and takes careful notes of what is seen.
- Ugh-lomiA young hunter of the Stone Age who flees his tribe's tyrant with Eudena and invents the first axe.
- EudenaA quick, brave young woman who runs from Uya and faces many dangers beside Ugh-lomi.
- DentonA poor, kind young man of the twenty-second century who wants only to marry Elizabeth and keep her happy.
- ElizabethA romantic young woman who loves Denton, reads old stories and faces the city's hardships beside him.
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- Audiobook
- 8 h 18 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- 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
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Tales of Space and Time
by H. G. Wells · 1899
A lamp hangs upside down in a pub, and a clerk named Fotheringay learns that his will can do anything.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What would you do with a stone that shows another world, or a will that bends nature? H.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A shopkeeper hides a crystal he cannot sell
In The Crystal Egg, a grimy curiosity shop near Seven Dials belongs to old Mr. Cave. When a clergyman and a young prince from Java offer five pounds for a polished crystal egg, Cave grows frightened and refuses to sell.
His loud wife and her grown children cannot understand him. They quarrel over the lost sale for days, and when the egg vanishes from the window, they accuse one another. Cave swears he knows nothing, yet he knows exactly where it is. He has carried it in a dogfish sack to the rooms of a young scientist named Wace at a hospital.
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What is Tales of Space and Time about?
It gathers five H. G. Wells stories: a crystal that shows another world, a planet that nears Earth, a Stone Age adventure, a future London of vast companies, and a clerk who can work miracles.
Which stories are in Tales of Space and Time?
The five are The Crystal Egg, The Star, A Story of the Stone Age, A Story of the Days to Come, and The Man Who Could Work Miracles.
Is A Story of the Stone Age based on real history?
It is invented, but Wells places it fifty thousand years ago on the river Wey, drawing on the geology and animals of ice-age Britain. The tribe, the bears and the lion are fiction.
The author
H. G. Wells
1866–1946 · English science fiction novelist
H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer born in Bromley, Kent. He wrote novels, short stories and nonfiction. His novels included The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898). He died in London.
More by H. G. Wells
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