315:) which he tricks Sandra Dee into releasing under the pretense that it contains a love-letter from him to her. When being tied to the stake, Trafford notices a girl waving an Ev Love ("evolve" backwards) banner, showing that she received the e-mail. He goes to his death in hope of a better world, reasoning that a society which promotes ignorance over knowledge and values mediocrity will inevitably die out and "evolve" into one that values knowledge and excellence.
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epidemic, a disease against which she was not vaccinated. Chantorria becomes angry, telling
Trafford that Caitlin's death is a punishment from God for his heresy in having her vaccinated at all. They are rejected by their community and arrested by the Temple and are tortured into implicating others.
276:
When a measles epidemic comes to London, thousands of children die, including all the children in the
Trafford's apartment building, but Caitlin Happymeal survives. Chantorria is aware of the fact that Caitlin Happymeal has been vaccinated, but rather than accepting this cause and effect, she sees
277:
Caitlin
Happymeal's survival as God's will. The Sewells become stars in their parish and Chantorria becomes the centre of attention, which she relishes. She gradually becomes convinced that she is one of God's chosen few and begins an affair with Confessor Bailey.
299:
In his cell, Trafford is visited by Sandra Dee, who turns out to be an undercover police officer, and the reason that the Temple knows all about the
Humanists. She tries to recruit Trafford. He refuses and he and Chantorria are taken to the stake to be burned as
242:" group. This group believes in reason and science, opposing the Temple's message of blind faith. Having already lost an earlier child to a "plague" as all epidemics are called, Trafford tries to find a way to get Caitlin Happymeal
284:" her and discovers that the videos that she "tubes" are not of her and her blog entries have been lifted wholesale from other people's blogs. This fascinates Trafford as he sees a kindred spirit in her: someone else who values
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Chantorria accepts the torture as her "just punishment". As
Trafford finally breaks and implicates Cassius, the Inquisitor tells him that they already knew everything, the torture was simply to test his endurance.
237:
A "Fizzy Coff" colleague, Cassius, begins to take an interest in
Trafford and invites him to lunch at an "old-fashioned" falafel restaurant. There he tells Trafford that he is a "Vaccinator" who belongs to the
337:"Funny as it is, it's an extremely disturbing book and readers are advised not to go anywhere crowded or to any fast-food outlet or beach for at least 24 hours after finishing it." – Kerryn Goldsworthy,
226:, and, in the short distance he has to travel, he is confronted by the numerous maudlin "tributes" to dead "kiddies", massive overcrowding, and oppressive heat that are typical of his world. His "
288:
in a world where everything is made public. Trafford introduces Sandra Dee to the books that
Cassius has lent him from the Humanist group's library. The relationship between the pair develops.
323:"...this novel is too in your face, too ambitious and ultimately too obvious to be very funny, or actually very original. However, it will still sell shed-loads." – Henry Sutton,
330:"As post-apocalyptic futures go, this is pretty tame. There's no denying that Ben Elton can tell a good story but this one isn’t fleshed out enough..." – Angela Cook,
362:
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society. A wholesale rejection of science (which is blamed for "The Second Flood") has taken place, and religious faith is compulsory under new "Wembley Laws" (
202:. The remaining population believes that "only perverts do things in private", and obsessively blogs and uploads their lives in a sort of voluntary
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246:. Trafford's wife, Chantorria, is a devout Temple member and is against the idea. Trafford ignores her wishes and secretly gives Caitlin a
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230:", Bailey, confronts him about his lateness in posting an explicit video of Caitlin Happymeal (Trafford's daughter) being born on the "
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222:, sets off for work on a rare "Fizzy Coff", a rare day that he must be physically present in his office as he is predominately a
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Laws" as interference in "God's will" and as a result, half of all children born die of preventable diseases such as
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234:". Trafford's given excuse is forgetfulness, rather than the illegal desire for privacy that is his true reason.
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During this time, Trafford has fallen in love with Sandra Dee, another "Fizzy Coff" colleague. He has been "
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The
Sewells' world is then shattered by the death of Caitlin Happymeal due to a
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The story takes place in London approximately 100 years after many parts of the
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For the 1989 true crime novel by Joe McGinness, see
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406:Goldsworthy, Kerryn (28 December 2007),
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250:against measles, mumps, and tetanus.
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361:Sutton, Henry (11 November 2007).
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385:Cook, Angela (16 November 2007).
253:Vaccination is banned under the "
16:2007 dystopian novel by Ben Elton
597:Ben Elton Live from Planet Earth
117:320 pp (first edition, hardback)
109:Print (hardback & paperback)
493:Saturday Live/Friday Night Live
477:There's Nothing to Worry About!
541:Ben Elton: The Man from Auntie
1:
218:Trafford Sewell, the novel's
408:"Blind Faith – Book Reviews"
311:(containing a précis of the
23:Blind Faith (McGinniss book)
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509:Filthy Rich & Catflap
413:The Sydney Morning Herald
339:The Sydney Morning Herald
130:(first edition, hardback)
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903:British satirical novels
387:"Ben Elton: Blind Faith"
210:passed by mob assent).
182:by writer and comedian
533:Blackadder Goes Forth
186:, published in 2007.
166:Meltdown (2010)
913:Novels set in London
525:Blackadder the Third
908:Novels by Ben Elton
893:2007 British novels
827:Time and Time Again
747:Blast from the Past
680:Tonight's the Night
656:Blast from the Past
341:, 28 December 2007
334:, 16 November 2007
327:, 11 November 2007
313:Theory of Evolution
40:First edition cover
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918:Bantam Press books
787:The First Casualty
664:The Beautiful Game
573:The Ben Elton Show
565:The Thin Blue Line
319:Critical reception
154:Chart Throb (2006)
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82:Bantam Press
29:Blind Faith
18:
870:All Is True
803:Blind Faith
795:Chart Throb
779:Past Mortem
763:Dead Famous
616:(2016-2020)
248:MMR vaccine
220:protagonist
175:Blind Faith
68:Dark comedy
887:Categories
854:Maybe Baby
589:Get a Grip
461:Television
345:References
309:email bomb
244:vaccinated
204:panopticon
70:, Satire,
640:Silly Cow
454:Ben Elton
232:WorldTube
228:Confessor
184:Ben Elton
143:163321153
78:Publisher
50:Ben Elton
811:Meltdown
723:Gridlock
549:Mr. Bean
485:Alfresco
302:heretics
282:Goog'ing
240:Humanist
208:statutes
56:Language
739:Popcorn
648:Popcorn
632:Gasping
624:Theatre
581:Blessed
293:cholera
286:privacy
271:tetanus
267:rubella
259:measles
255:Wembley
190:Setting
59:English
873:(2018)
865:(2017)
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46:Author
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263:mumps
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114:Pages
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846:Film
269:and
137:OCLC
123:ISBN
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