John Wyndham_38
The Street Library has gifted me with a copy of 'The Kraken Wakes' so old it has a price of 3'6 on the cover and is held together with sticky tape. This is one of John Wyndham's catastrophe novels, written in the 1950s and in print ever since. Like 'The Day of the Triffids' and 'The Midwich Cuckoos', 'Kraken' is a perfect short novel. Succinct, very clever, astutely observant and never overwrought. Very British of its era, or so I imagine. In 'Kraken' interstellar monsters colonise the deep oceans of Earth and set about changing the climate to their ends, so among the joys of this book is a 1953 perspective on climate change denial, propaganda and response. With more tape, this one goes back to the library — a 1963 edition of a 1953 novel, ready and relevant for another 2021 reader. Postscript: I'm delighted to advise that 'Kraken' lasted less than a day in the Street Library before finding its next reader.