Deluge is a 1928 novel by S. Fowler Wright

S. Fowler Wright

Sydney Fowler Wright was a prolific British editor, poet, science fiction author, writer of screenplays, mystery fiction and works in other genres...

.

In the novel, a global flood destroys all civilization other than areas of the English Midlands

English Midlands

The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...

 that remain above water. It follows Martin Webster, a lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 who loses his wife and children. His companion, Claire Arlington, is an athlete and one of the few women to survive the flood. Their love affair is complicated when Helen, his wife, turns out not to be dead after all.

Wright used the metaphor of the flood and the aftermath to comment critically upon 1920s British society at the time. A movie version

Deluge (film)

Deluge is an apocalyptic science fiction film, released by RKO Radio Pictures, about a group of worldwide natural disasters which lead to the destruction of the earth....

 very loosely based upon the book was released in 1933.

External links

• Original review by TIME Magazine
• Bookslut Review