4 h 27 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 4 h 27 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if an angel lands in an English village—and finds ordinary human life stranger than another world?
Near Siddermorton, the Reverend Hilyer goes looking for a rare bird and shoots an angel by mistake. He brings the winged stranger into his vicarage and tries to care for him. In H. G. Wells's short comic fantasy, this visitor from a world of beauty and music must learn the rules of a place that has no room ready for him.
The village soon starts talking. Dr. Crump prefers a medical explanation to a marvel, while Delia, a poor, overlooked servant girl, offers plain kindness. As the angel questions money, manners, clothes and class, familiar customs begin to look absurd. Beneath the gentle jokes lies a sharper question: how do people treat beauty and kindness when they cannot understand them?
What you’ll discover
- An outsider's clear eyes See everyday human habits become strange through the angel's simple, searching questions.
- A village under scrutiny Watch Wells turn quiet village life into a comedy of manners and misunderstanding.
- Kindness without status Meet Delia, whose plain care offers the stranger something that social standing cannot.
- Music from another world Discover the angel's gift for music beyond anything the villagers have heard.
- Laughter with a soft heart Enjoy a dry, gentle voice that finds both absurdity and hidden beauty in human life.
Who will love it
For readers who love short, witty fantasy, English village comedy, and early Wells in a lighter mood, and anyone who enjoys satire with a soft heart.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A vicar shoots something strange
- The angel meets ordinary life
- Delia and the village take notice
- Music, money and the cost of belonging
- What the story is really about
- How Wells tells it
Who’s who
- The AngelA winged visitor from a world of beauty and music, who asks simple questions about human life and wants to understand it.
- The Reverend HilyerThe village vicar and keen bird collector, who shoots the angel by mistake and then tries to care for him.
- DeliaA young servant girl in the vicarage, poor and overlooked, who treats the angel with plain kindness.
- Dr. CrumpThe local doctor, a practical man who prefers a medical explanation to a marvel.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 4 h 27 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
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear The Wonderful Visit in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Wonderful Visit
by H. G. Wells · 1895
An angel falls into an English village, where money, manners and class leave little room for wonder.
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In short
The Wonderful Visit is a short comic fantasy by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. It came early in his career, just after The Time Machine.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A vicar shoots something strange
The story opens in the English countryside near the village of Siddermorton. The local vicar, the Reverend Hilyer, keeps a keen interest in birds. One evening he hears about a strange and brilliant bird seen in the sky, and he goes out with his gun to find it.
He fires at what he takes for a rare specimen. The creature drops, and when he reaches it, he finds no bird at all. Instead he finds a human shape with great colored wings, wounded and confused. The vicar is a decent man, and his first feeling is shock and guilt at what he has done.
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What is The Wonderful Visit about?
It follows an angel who is shot down by a country vicar and then lives among villagers in England. His simple questions show how strange human customs, money and class look to an outsider.
When was The Wonderful Visit written?
H. G. Wells published it in 1895, soon after The Time Machine. It is a fantasy and satire, not a true story, and it is set in an English village of its own time.
Is The Wonderful Visit a science fiction novel?
Not quite. It is a comic fantasy and social satire. Unlike his scientific romances, it uses an angel instead of a machine or experiment to examine human society.
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.
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