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The Young H.G. Wells

Changing the World

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The Young H.G. Wells

By: Claire Tomalin
Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A fascinating journey into the life of H.G. Wells, from one of Britain's best biographers.

How did the first 40 years of H. G. Wells' life shape the father of science fiction?

From his impoverished childhood in a working-class English family, to his determination to educate himself at any cost, to the serious ill health that dominated his 20s and 30s, his complicated marriages, and love affair with socialism, the first 40 years of H. G. Wells' extraordinary life would set him on a path to become one of the world's most influential writers. The sudden success of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds transformed his life and catapulted him to international fame; he became the writer who most inspired Orwell and countless others and predicted men walking on the moon 70 years before it happened.

In this remarkable, empathetic biography, Claire Tomalin paints a fascinating portrait of a man like no other, driven by curiosity and desiring reform, a socialist and a futurist whose new and imaginative worlds continue to inspire today.

©2021 Claire Tomalin (P)2021 Penguin Audio Art & Literature Authors Historical Inspiring Socialism

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Critic reviews

"The finest of biographers." (Hilary Mantel)

"A most intelligent and sympathetic biographer." (Daily Telegraph)

"One of the best biographers of her generation." (Guardian)
All stars
Most relevant
I’m ashamed to say I don’t recall reading any of HG Wells books , other than ‘Ann Veronica’ which I read age 15, and loved.
This book has stimulated my interest to explore his work further. I just hope I am not disappointed by the lack of books available, which is often the case in audiobooks.
As to this particular biography, the author gives a rounded and detailed portrait of HG, the reader is excellent, and the whole a very satisfying listen.

Thoroughly entertaining book

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Tomalin is excellent in biography, Wells was himself.
I'm glad to have met him and that age through this book.

A prolific power of nature

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This book is and she opened for those of us who only recollect is more famous novels. What a prodigious amount of work he did throughout his life and very prophetic in lots of ways.
The narration was excellent very clear.
Would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in writers and authors and their sometimes nafarious lives

The Amazing H G Wells

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Very fine and sympathetic both as a book, and in the reading. Very enjoyable view of the writer in his best period, and beyond, with surprising aspects of his interests….

Fine and sympathetic

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