Author: Aldous Huxley
Summary
Set far in the future, in the twenty-sixth century, it depicts a society in which people’s lives are completely controlled by world government. Foetuses are created by artificial fertilization in test tubes and ‘parents’ are unknown. Society is divided into different levels, with each level performing different functions, and children are given whispered messages in their sleep that teach them to be content with their place in society.

The ‘happiness’ drug, soma, is freely distributed so that unhappiness is never experienced. It is a society in which freedom has been sacrificed for happiness and stability. Only a few individuals dare to question the society in which they live. Into this society comes a ‘Savage’, a young man brought up in one of the few places in the world where people are allowed to live under natural conditions. What will be the fate of the Savage and the two brilliant young men who dare to befriend him? Will the Savage succeed in retaining the ideal of freedom that his childhood taught him? And if he does, what price will he pay?.
Level: advanced.
Source: PENGUIN READERS, Teacher Support Programme.