Modern Classics The Death Of Grass

Also known as No Blade of Grass, this was one of John Christopher's classic cosy catastrophes, although there is very little that is cosy in this post-apocalyptic tale.In Asia, a new disease starts to affect rice crops, leading to widespread famine. Soon, the virus mutates and starts to attack all forms of grass, including such staple food crops as wheat and barley. The result is anarchy and panic, amid which John Custance tries to lead his family and friends safely across England to where his brother has a potato farm. Along the way, as their entourage grows, they find themselves abandoning all their old morality in order to survive, including committing murder. The portrait of a society disintegrating in the face of starvation is what makes this such a compelling story. Cosy catastrophe, the rather demeaning name for a strand of British science fiction in the 1950s and early 60s, was actually a continuation of the scientific romances that imagined various forms of the destruction of the familiar world. Christopher was a master of this, picturing far from cosy worlds in which his protagonists have to become increasingly hardened and ruthless in the face of a fragile environment.