The Hopkins Manuscript

The Hopkins Manuscript is a science fiction novel written by R. C. Sheriff in 1939. Originally titled An Ordinary Man, the novel was republished by The Macmillan Company in 1963, before being reprinted by Persephone Books in 2002.

The story takes place in Notting Hill, west London, where the main character, Edgar Hopkins, writes his own narrative about a lunar catastrophe in which the moon collides with the Earth. The foreword takes the perspective of an academic society 1,000 years in the future finding the manuscript as an historical document. Edgar, an active member of London's prestigious Lunar Society, learns of the impending doom through the society's astronomical meetings, and thus writes his narrative of the proceeding events.