Agnes' prophecies are perfectly accurate, but many are so cryptic and specific as to be nearly useless. Also looking for the boy is Anathema Device, a witch who is trying to prevent the Apocalypse as predicted by her ancestor, Agnes Nutter. In the meantime, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse assemble: War (a war correspondent), Famine (a dietician and fast-food tycoon), Pollution (Pestilence having retired after the discovery of penicillin) and Death (a biker).Īziraphale and Crowley realize their mistake and begin a frantic search for the Antichrist. As the foretold end of the world nears, Adam begins to unknowingly use his reality warping powers, changing the world to fit his vision of how things ought to be, such as raising the lost continent of Atlantis after reading about it in a conspiracy theory magazine, summoning UFOs after talking to his friends about aliens, and having the Amazon rainforest reclaim land lost to urban development.

However, due to several misunderstandings at the hospital, the real Antichrist is actually another boy, Adam Young, who grows up unnoticed in idyllic Lower Tadfield, Oxfordshire, together with his three close friends – Pepper, Wensleydale and Brian. Together, they decide to influence the Antichrist's upbringing by posing as a nanny and a gardener so that the child can never really decide between Good and Evil. Crowley realizes this means that the Apocalypse is coming and persuades Aziraphale to help him prevent it. One night, the forces of Hell deliver the infant Antichrist to Crowley, with instructions to swap him with the son of an American diplomat stationed in Britain. Over the millennia, they have formed an odd friendship and taken a liking to humanity. Plot summary Īziraphale, an angel (originally a guardian of the gates of Eden), and Crowley, a demon (originally the serpent who tempted Eve) have lived on Earth since its creation.

In 2003, the novel was listed at number 68 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. Another subplot concerns the summoning of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, each a big personality in their own right.

One subplot features a mixup at the small country hospital on the day of birth and the growth of the Antichrist, Adam, who grows up with the wrong family, in the wrong country village. There are attempts by the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley to sabotage the coming of the end times, having grown accustomed to their comfortable surroundings in England. The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the coming of the End Times. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

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