Book excerpt: ‘Erewhon Revisited’ the sequel to ‘Erewhon’, Samuel Butler’s acclaimed first novel, finds adventurer Higgs returning to the mysterious, distant land of Erewhon. There he discovers its people ruled by a religious cult inspired by his hot-air balloon escape thirty years earlier. Devious professors Hanky and Panky have invented a new religion called ‘Sunchildism’ and Higgs, the unwitting ‘Sun Child,’ is not welcome. The professors are determined to preserve their grip on Erewhonians leaving Higgs in mortal danger. With the help of his newfound son, Higgs must once again escape Erewhon if he is to survive. Butler’s humorous, perceptive book is a penetrating satire of Christianity in Victorian England and is still as relevant and fresh today. ‘Erewhon Revisited’ is Samuel Butler’s last novel. Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was a revolutionary English novelist and critic. He is best known for the utopian novel ‘Erewhon’ (1872) and the posthumous, semi-autobiographical novel ‘The Way of All Flesh’ (1903). Both of which have remained in print ever since. ‘Erewhon’ is renowned as one of the first books to explore the idea of machine evolution. The English writer Aldous Huxley acknowledged the book's influence on his novel ‘Brave New World’, while George Bernard Shaw deemed Butler ‘the greatest English writer of the latter half of the nineteenth century.’