In the days of the comet

Imagine a big comet zooming towards Earth that everyone is scared of because it might smash the planet. A boy named Willie loves a girl named Nettie, but she runs away with a rich guy named Jack, making Willie super mad in their smoky factory town. When the comet whooshes by, it sprays green gas that makes everybody go crazy at first—fighting and running wild—but then it changes their brains forever! Suddenly, no one is mean or jealous anymore; they all share everything, make flying machines, and live happily together like one big family with no wars or bosses.

In H.G. Wells' 'In the Days of the Comet' (1906), the narrative unfolds through the eyes of William Leadford, a disillusioned young potter in the gritty industrial town of Clayton, England, amid escalating class tensions and personal turmoil. Leadford's life intertwines with his childhood sweetheart Nettie Stuart, who elopes with the aristocratic Jack Verrall, igniting Leadford's rage and involvement in socialist unrest. As a massive comet barrels toward Earth, discovered via spectroscopic observations by Leadford's friend Parload, society teeters on the brink of war between labor and capital, exacerbated by imperial conflicts and aerial skirmishes using primitive aircraft. The comet's near-miss releases a greenish gas into the atmosphere, plunging the world into collective madness—mass suicides, orgiastic frenzies, and societal collapse—before awakening humanity to a profound transformation. In the aftermath, known as the 'Great Change,' the gas induces a neurological evolution, eradicating jealousy, greed, and nationalism, birthing a global utopia. Leadford reunites with Nettie and Verrall in a polyamorous harmony, as rigid class structures dissolve into cooperative commonwealths. Wells extrapolates this into a visionary society with advanced aviation, scientific education for all, and pacifist internationalism, critiquing Edwardian imperialism while prophesying a humane socialism. The novel masterfully blends personal drama with cosmic apocalypse, culminating in optimistic reconstruction where former enemies collaborate in rebuilding a borderless world.