The Children of Men is a dystopian novel by P. D. James that was published in 1992. Set in England in 2021, it centres on the results of mass infertility. James describes a United Kingdom that is steadily depopulating and focuses on a small group of resisters who do not share the disillusionment of the masses.
The title of the book is derived from Psalm 90(89):3 of the King James Bible: "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye chi...
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The Children of Men is a dystopian novel by P. D. James that was published in 1992. Set in England in 2021, it centres on the results of mass infertility. James describes a United Kingdom that is steadily depopulating and focuses on a small group of resisters who do not share the disillusionment of the masses.
The title of the book is derived from Psalm 90(89):3 of the King James Bible: "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." The Psalm is quoted in Chapter 28 of the novel, and is its only reference to the phrase.
The narrative voice for the novel alternates between the third person and the first person, the latter in the form of the diary kept by Dr. Theodore Faron, normally called "Theo," who is an Oxford don. His wife Helena left him two years before the story begins. Their marriage deteriorated after Theo accidentally ran over their daughter, Natalie.
The novel opens with the first entry in Theo's diary. It is the year 2021, but the novel's...
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