The Door in the Wall, and Other Stories

If you visited a paradise, how could return to living in the normal world? That's the question which haunts Lionel Wallace in H.G. Wells' "The Door in the Wall". When he was a child, Lionel found a magical green door. He stepped through it into a sun-dappled garden, inhabited by angelic women and friendly animals. Then suddenly he was cast out, back into reality. For the rest of his life, he longs to find that green door once again. "The Door in the Wall" has invited countless interpretations over the years-is it about repressed trauma, or missed opportunities, or a fable about industrialisation? Read it to make up your mind.