9 h 36 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 36 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if you returned to a hidden country and found its powerful church worshipping you?
In Samuel Butler’s satirical sequel to Erewhon, Higgs returns to the land he once escaped by balloon with Arowhena, the woman he loved. Now people worship him as the Sunchild. His own memories clash with a sacred story that gives others power.
Churchmen Hanky and Panky have turned that story into ranks, rituals and a steady income. The real Higgs threatens everything they guard. His half-Erewhonian son, George, brings young, open eyes to a country where comfort can matter more than evidence, and officials confuse their interests with the public good.
What you’ll discover
- A traveller becomes sacred Follow Higgs into the strange gap between an ordinary life and a powerful public myth.
- Two guardians of belief Meet Hanky and Panky, whose practical ambitions keep doctrine and church income closely linked.
- A son's open eyes See Erewhon through George, whose youth offers a fresh view of its settled customs.
- Truth against comfort Explore why institutions resist evidence when familiar beliefs serve them so well.
- Laughter with a target Enjoy Butler’s sharp comedy about faith, self-interest, and the human wish to leave customs alone.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy satire that pokes at churches, professors and fashionable opinion, and anyone who liked Erewhon. It also suits those who love comic disguise and warm stories of fathers and sons.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A son preserves his father's return
- Higgs discovers he has become divine
- A stranger finds an unknown son
- Belief becomes a business in town
- Goodness becomes something to correct
- Public truth becomes a dangerous act
- A miracle gives institutions their power
- Public legends meet private family truths
Who’s who
- Mr. HiggsThe Englishman who once escaped Erewhon by balloon and now returns in disguise, aged and unwell, to see what his flight has caused.
- JohnHiggs's son, who edits his dead father's diaries and notes and tells the story with devotion and a touch of embarrassment.
- GeorgeThe young Head Ranger of the King's preserves, quick, warm and fearless, who wants to know what kind of man his father is.
- YramThe mayor's clever, calm wife, once Higgs's friend, who guards her family and her secret and rules Sunch'ston by tact.
- Professor HankyA worldly Bridgeford professor who knows the miracle is false and uses it to win money and power for his order.
- Professor PankyHanky's fellow professor, who must believe his own inventions and who wears his clothes backwards on principle.
- Dr. DownieA smooth professor and royal thinker who has built a career on holding no firm views and favours moderate reform.
- Mrs. HumdrumA stately old lady, known in society as Ydgrun, whose kind counsel steadies Yram and the town.
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Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later
by Samuel Butler · 1901
A disguised Englishman shares a campfire with two professors who are busy turning him into a god.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“A first idea is like a strong seedling: it will grow if it can.”
In short
What happens to a country when a stranger floats away into the sky in a balloon? Samuel Butler asks this in Erewhon Revisited, and his answer begins at a night fire in the mountains, where an Englishman in disguise hears two professors explain how he has become the child of the sun.
Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 30 min4 h 25 min fast, 6 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 78,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1901by Samuel Butler
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A son pieces together his father's second journey
The book is told by John, who edits his dead father's diaries and the notes he took from his father's own lips. The father is Mr. Higgs, the hero of Erewhon, who escaped by balloon with an Erewhonian bride. The first book was praised while nobody knew the author, then dropped.
Higgs lives poor in London, drawing in coloured chalk on the pavement. Then an uncle dies in Australia, and the family is suddenly rich. John's mother dies, worn down by homesickness, and Higgs burns to see Erewhon again, in disguise. He sails with gold nuggets sewn into secret pockets, because gold is scarce there.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1901
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Butler, Samuel. Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/erewhon-revisited-twenty-years-later.
Butler, S. (2026). Erewhon revisited twenty years later. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/erewhon-revisited-twenty-years-later (Original work published 1901)
Butler, Samuel. Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/erewhon-revisited-twenty-years-later.
@book{butler2026erewhon,
author = {Butler, Samuel},
title = {Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/erewhon-revisited-twenty-years-later},
note = {First published 1901}
}
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What is Erewhon Revisited about?
It follows Mr. Higgs as he returns to Erewhon twenty years after escaping by balloon. He finds that his flight has become the basis of a new religion, with a temple and priests, and a son he did not know.
Do I need to read Erewhon first?
It helps but is not required. John, the narrator, explains the first book's events as the story goes on, so a reader can follow the plot, the people and the jokes without having read the original.
Who are Hanky and Panky?
They are two Bridgeford professors of worldly and unworldly wisdom who shape the new religion for their own ends. Hanky is the cheerful rogue who knows it is false, while Panky must believe his own inventions.
The author
Samuel Butler
1835–1902 · English novelist and critic
Samuel Butler (1835–1902) was an English novelist and critic. He was born in Langar, Nottinghamshire, lived in New Zealand from 1859 to 1864, and then settled in London. He published Erewhon in 1872 and The Authoress of the Odyssey in 1897. The Way of All Flesh appeared after his death, in 1903.
“A first idea is like a strong seedling: it will grow if it can.”
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