Book Review - The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

It feels slightly odd sitting down to write a review of John Wyndham's The Chrysalids. I first read it at school when I was 12 or 13 about the same age as the book's protagonist, David Strorm, when we first meet him. I hadn't read it since but rediscovered it when searching through Amazon for my next audible book falling for that reader's temptation to spend time with an old friend.

The book is set at some point in the future, we aren't told when, but civilisation has fallen long ago and is now trying to claw its way out of a largely non-technological agricultural era.

David lives with his family on a farm in Waknuk, part of what we know now as Labrador. Life isn't easy. `Deviations' (mutated crops and animals) are feared as the work of the Devil and have to be guarded against, rooted out and destroyed to guarantee genetic purity. `Abominations' (mutated people) are sterilised and cast out to the Fringes, a land where little grows true and life expectancy is short.

Physical deviations are easy to spot, be they an extra finger or longer arms but David deviates in a way that people can't see he can communicate, over long distances, with his mind. He's one of a group with the same curse, or gift. As he grows, it becomes increasingly hard for the group to hide their deviation. In a land that is driven by religion (the Bible being only one of two books which survived the Tribulation, the passing of the old people) David's father is one of the most fervent zealots, who wouldn't hesitate to hand over one of his family to the authorities.

So, enough plot. I don't want to spoil it if you've not read it.

To readers of science fiction, much of the above will seem like familiar territory but remember this was written in 1955. It can certainly be said that the writing is of its time it's a little formal for today's readers, a bit proper and sometimes a little stilted but the book is always absorbing and its tale of prejudice, judgement, intolerance and fear is as relevant today as the day it was written.

The characters are strong, their relationships realistic and the whole story is moving and engaging, Wyndham paints the relationship between David and his cousin Rosalind in a way that those of us who can't connect with our minds, who are restricted to physical senses can only envy!

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