Against the Fall of Night (Golden Age Masterworks)

In the year ten billion A.D., Diaspar is the last city on Earth. Ageless and unchanging, the inhabitants see no reason to be curious about the outside world.

But one child, Alvin - only seventeen and the last person to be born in Diaspar - finds that he is increasingly drawn to what lies outside the city walls. Even though he knows the Invaders, who devastated the world, may still be out there...

An early version of one of Clarke's most successful books, The City and the Stars, this short novel is a perfect example of Clarke's powers as a writer.