story identification - Book where all electricity stopped working

I read this book in 1993 or thereabouts but could have been decades old for all I know. It was in Greek but was definitely translated from another language (I have no idea which one).

What I remember from the story was that something happened and everything that used electricity stopped working. This might have been caused by aliens, but I don't remember aliens actually appearing.

I remember a particular part where someone had two cigarette lighters, one using fuel and one electric, and only the former worked.

I think people learned to live happily after getting over the event and in the end, when someone re-discovered electricity, the others destroyed his machine, saying that life was better without electricity.

This may have been a book for children, but I'm not sure.

I'm not interested in reading it again, I just remembered it and am curious about whether the author was a Luddite.

Answer

I found the very same book I read. The story is translated from Italian, and is titled "Proprio come ieri" which Google translates as "Just like yesterday". The author is Giuliano Amici.

The story is a bit different than I remember. I skimmed through the book, which takes place in the relatively near future.
It begins with the aliens themselves worried about civilisation on Earth because technology is advancing too fast and the people aren't mature enough to handle it, so they decide to delay it. They were the ones who caused the biblical cataclysm but this time they just use some gas that disables electricity.

Then most of the book follows the story of some people after electricity has stopped. The part with the lighters exists, except that it's two people comparing their lighters. The invention at the end is also there, pretty much as I remembered it. Then the aliens say that the Earth people have learned their lesson and leave.

Unfortunately I've not been able to find any information on the author or the book that's not in Italian.

Comments

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