Back to The War of the Worlds The War of the Worlds Chapter guide 1.1Book 1. Chapter 1Across space, the Martians look at Earth with envious eyes. Astronomers see flashes on Mars. Play 1.2Book 1. Chapter 2Something falls on Horsell Common near Woking. The astronomer Ogilvy finds a huge metal cylinder in the sand. Play 1.3Book 1. Chapter 3A crowd gathers as the top of the cylinder slowly unscrews. Play 1.4Book 1. Chapter 4The cylinder opens and a grey, tentacled Martian heaves itself out. People run. Play 1.5Book 1. Chapter 5A group with a white flag walks towards the pit and is burnt by an invisible ray. Play 1.6Book 1. Chapter 6The heat-ray sweeps the crowd and sets the heath and the road on fire. Play 1.7Book 1. Chapter 7The narrator stumbles home to Woking in terror. Play 1.8Book 1. Chapter 8Soldiers surround the common on Friday night. Another cylinder falls. Play 1.9Book 1. Chapter 9He borrows the landlord's dog cart and takes his wife to safety in Leatherhead. Play 1.10Book 1. Chapter 10Driving back in a thunderstorm, he sees a giant tripod striding through the trees. Play 1.11Book 1. Chapter 11He shelters a soldier, an artilleryman, and they watch the burning land from the window. Play 1.12Book 1. Chapter 12At Weybridge and Shepperton the guns bring down one tripod, but the heat-ray boils the Thames. Play 1.13Book 1. Chapter 13Drifting downriver, he meets a frightened curate. Play 1.14Book 1. Chapter 14In London, the narrator's brother hears the first strange news. Play 1.15Book 1. Chapter 15The Martians use a poisonous black smoke against the guns. Play 1.16Book 1. Chapter 16Millions flee London. The brother helps two women, Mrs and Miss Elphinstone, escape. Play 1.17Book 1. Chapter 17An ironclad, the Thunder Child, charges the tripods so the refugee ships can get away. Play 2.1Book 2. Chapter 1A cylinder lands right beside the house where the narrator and the curate are hiding. Play 2.2Book 2. Chapter 2Through a crack in the ruins they watch the Martians and their machines. Play 2.3Book 2. Chapter 3Trapped for days, the curate grows louder and wilder. Play 2.4Book 2. Chapter 4The narrator knocks the curate down. A Martian arm reaches in and drags him away. Play 2.5Book 2. Chapter 5The Martians fall silent. Red weed covers everything. Play 2.6Book 2. Chapter 6He crawls out into a changed world. Play 2.7Book 2. Chapter 7On Putney Hill the artilleryman shares big plans for living underground. Play 2.8Book 2. Chapter 8London is empty except for a strange, mournful howl. Play 2.9Book 2. Chapter 9The Martians are dead, killed by Earth's germs. After an illness he goes home to Woking and finds his wife. Play 2.10Book 2. Chapter 10Looking back on what the invasion taught humankind. Play Listen to The War of the Worlds free
