The Time Machine

One of the founding works of science fiction, Wells's short novel sends an unnamed Time Traveller far into the future, where humanity has split into the gentle Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks. What begins as a scientific adventure becomes a dark meditation on class division, evolution and the ultimate fate of the Earth. Written in clear, propulsive prose, the book popularised the very idea of a machine for travelling through time and still shapes how we imagine the future today. It is a compact, thought-provoking introduction to speculative fiction.