H.G. Wells’ ‘The War of the Worlds’ begins in Woking, an English town in Surrey. The unnamed narrator lives near Woking, and the first Martian cylinder lands on Horsell Common, close to the town.
Wells made the setting unusually specific for an invasion story. The narrator describes familiar local places, including Woking, Weybridge, Byfleet, Ottershaw, and the surrounding Surrey countryside. This realistic geography helped make the fantastic attack feel like a contemporary news event unfolding in a recognisable English landscape.
Wells lived in Woking while writing much of the novel between 1895 and 1898. The town’s railway connections and nearby commons also gave him a useful setting for depicting rapid movement, panic, military resistance, and the breakdown of ordinary travel.
The story later expands beyond Woking into London and other parts of southern England. That wider journey can cause confusion, especially because the narrator’s brother spends much of the invasion in London and Essex. Nevertheless, the opening action and first landing are firmly associated with Woking and Horsell Common.