post-apocalyptic science fiction novel
, and the
plot concerns a virus that kills off all forms of grass.
The novel was written in a matter of weeks and liberated Samuel Youd
from his day job.
A new virus strain has infected rice crops in East Asia causing
massive famine; soon a mutation appears which infects the staple crops
of West Asia and Europe such as wheat and barley, all of them types of
grasses (thus the novel’s title), threatening a famine engulfing the
whole of the Old World, while Australasia and the Americas attempt to
impose rigorous quarantine to keep the virus out.
The novel follows the struggles of engineer John Custance and his
friend, civil servant Roger Buckley, as, along with their families, they
make their way across an England which is rapidly descending into
anarchy, hoping to reach the safety of John’s brother’s potato farm in
an isolated Westmorland valley.
Picking up a travelling companion in a
gun shop owner named Pirrie, they find they must sacrifice many of their
morals in order to stay alive. At one point, when their food supply
runs out, they kill a family to take their bread. The protagonist
justifies this with the belief that “it was them or us.”
By the time they reach the valley, they have accumulated a
considerable entourage as a result of their encounters with other groups
of survivors along the way. They find that John’s brother is unable to
let them all in to the heavily-defended valley. Pirrie acts to prevent
John leaving the group and taking only his immediate family into the
valley; instead, the group takes the valley by force. Pirrie and John’s
brother are killed; John takes possession of the valley.
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