In the Days of the Comet (1906) by H.G. Wells follows William Leadford, a discontented young socialist living in poverty-stricken industrial England. Embittered by class injustice and betrayed when his sweetheart Nettie elopes with a wealthy rival, he sets out to murder the couple. At that very moment, a comet's green vapor envelops the Earth, miraculously transforming human consciousness. Jealousy, hatred, and greed dissolve, and humanity awakens to reason and universal brotherhood. Told retrospectively from this utopian future, the novel contrasts the grim misery of pre-comet civilization with a visionary world of peace, cooperation, and spiritual renewal.
