Later, the existence of geographic areas far less affected by the nuclear exchange and fallout are established, particularly Sealand ( New Zealand), which is home to a socially and technologically advanced society where telepathy not only is the norm, but is encouraged and developed as a survival advantage. A]bsolutely and completely brilliant… The Chrysalids is a top-notch piece of sci-fi that should be enjoyed for generations yet to come.”– The Ottawa Citizen Imagine a world where a little deviation from the norm in physical appearance means burning and banishment because you are far from what God created. Why there are imperfections when we know perfect exists? God creates perfect humans, plants, and animals, so no deviations have the right to live in the world. They're the work of Devil. A world where people have to give away their loved ones because God has not made them perfect. These deviations or imperfections are known as offenses and blasphemies. Plants, animals fell in to first category while the humans found themselves in the latter. Even minor ones like a small extra toe will lead to exile or death. The discovery of mental deviation (telepathy) practically causes panic among the ruling zealots and the telepaths are immediately regard as a threat to humanity and pursued.

However, despite this rigid upbringing, David doesn't fully cooperate, and sometimes when he meets others who have a deviation he ends up helping them rather than turning them in. This may be due to the fact that David has his own sort of Deviation, something the adults of his community can't see, and it's something he has to keep hidden. His friends and sister, Rosalind, Petra, Rachel, Michael etc. are also going to be in trouble if he can't keep his secrets hidden...Chapter 2 discusses David’s family tree and his grandfather, Elias Strorm, the founder of Waknuk. Elias' son, Joseph, who is David's father, is an important man in their town and is a very religious individual—as is his wife, Emily. The Strorm’s family life is filled with religious practices. The religion is focused on keeping the “pure” form of humans, as defined by their text Nicholson’s Repentances. Anyone who does not conform to the norm is considered Deviant. Most Deviants live in the Fringes, the area outside of Waknuk and the surrounding farming communities. As a farming society, Waknuk is also concerned with destroying any genetically mutated plant or animal, known as Offences. For mutant crops, they are burned. Mutant animals have their throats slit at dawn. That night David has a dream that Sophie is going to be sacrificed in the same manner in which the Strorms usually sacrifice mutant animals, in a Purification ceremony at dawn. Sophie runs barefoot around the circle of people and begs for help, but Joseph Strorm catches her and holds her down as his knife glints in the first light of the sun. David awakes crying. I asked myself this question many times and, on many occasions, to understand how and in what ways was I different to those around me. While this is all wildly subjective, I didn’t understand the true and inescapable nature of this quandary until one winter evening I walked into a pub in South West of England. The Chrysalids begins with a conversation between David and his sister Mary Strorm about David’s dream of a city he has never seen before. Mary warns him not to tell anyone about the dream because in Waknuk, the town where they live, it is best not to stand out. This proves to be good advice when David meets Sophie, who has six toes. According to the Waknukian religion, anyone whose body does not comply with the Definition of Man is a Blasphemy, and must be sterilized and banished from the community. This belief is based on the idea that God makes man in the image of himself, and God does not make mistakes, so anyone who does not look like the Image of God must not be a man, and consequently, must be the work of the devil. But I am MOST bitter about the ending. At the risk of giving too much away, I must say: I fail to understand how the murders of TWO full communities can be justified by the explanation that they were "intellectually underdeveloped," when the whole point of the novel (up to that point) was to accept everyone for their differences. (The consequence of failing to do so, is the creation of a cold, harsh, stringent, and unhappy society where everyone lives in fear of everyone else). Perspective is a matter of one's environment, and there is none superior to the other. But by the end of this, the author seemed to be saying: "All perspectives are equal, except for this one, which is more equal than all the others." Can you tell I've read "Animal Farm"? ;)

Perfect timing, astringent humour. . . one of the few authors whose compulsive readability is a compliment to the intelligence' Spectator It is a young adult novel, but don't let that stop you, the issues are adult. David Strorm is the main protagonist, a young man who lives in a fanatical religious community, who is able to send telepathic messages to others like him. His farming village is very traditional. Their traditions include death or banishment for anyone who isn't "perfect". Perfect people have no odd physical deformations, and no mental ones either. So everyone in this community has a stamp of approval that they fit the image of god in all their looks. But what happens if there is a variation that an inspector cannot see? David learns from an early age that he can communicate with a small group of others telepathically. This small group of children band together in their fear and strategise to hide their differences in fear for their lives. But all is changed when people notice their strange behaviour when one of their kind is hurt and they come to their rescue with no seemingly way of knowing that the person was injured.Case Two: We’re in the future and the United States needs to immediately take over all Middle-Eastern oil fields. It’s a matter of life and death. Via military superiority, such a takeover can be effected next week, no problem. Again, “survival of the fittest” requires this action. Another interesting (and damning) perspective comes from one of these other societies, called Zealand, one that has advanced and re-built and where think-speaking is treasured and encouraged - a utopia, in fact, for Davie and his friends: It was yet again an enjoyable read, well written, a good post-apocalyptic story that seems to have been written way before its time. If you cannot open a .mobi file on your mobile device, please use .epub with an appropriate eReader. There is critical disagreement regarding whether the intervention of the Sealand culture at the end of the novel should be considered a deus ex machina. [11]

So how has it stood up? Remarkably well but with big reservations, an ending that seemed very ham-fisted. The major protagonist David tells the story in the first person, and what a riveting tale it is of those that are not normal in his fundamentally religious society. After a nuclear holocaust, much of humanity has not survived. In a small patch in Labrador, those that did were full of fire and brimstone towards those that they found in their midst that were not in the image of man and women as they interpreted the surviving bible. So an individual that had 6 toes, for example, was outcast into the fringe lands. David and a few others find they are able to communicate via a form of telepathy but once found out had to make a run for it. It was a well written and stirring adventure that covered the story well in a YA type of delivery. Unfortunately, the villagers get wind of the strange abilities of David and the others. Ah! Their small group must escape the clutches of all those intolerant, fundamentalist village bigots, journey miles beyond to lands unknown, to encounter new worlds. Thus, on a second level, we have an exciting young adult adventure, one requiring stamina, endurance, courage and resourcefulness. Do you know a twelve-year-old or teenage booklover? If so, The Chrysalids would make the perfect gift. Another wonderfully written Wyndham book. Similar to some of the other reviewers I find that Wyndham's writing draws you in, and before you know it an hour has passed (Not lost as reading is never about losing time) and you want to carry on to continually find out what happens next.The story is set in Labrador, Canada, which in the book has a warmer climate than today. The inhabitants are famers with a technology roughly equivalent to early 18th century Europe. They are aware that “the old people” once had a more advanced civilisation but believe God sent “tribulation” to punish humanity for its sinfulness. They are also ruled by a harsh form of Christianity that is focused on the destruction of “deviations” or “mutants”, whether human, animal or plant life. Radiation residues cause genetic abnormalities which the Church believes are the work of the Devil. The women of Labrador sew large Christian crosses onto their dresses, in the hope they can ward off the Devil and give birth to children “in the true image of God.” As might be expected in such a society, it is women who get the blame when things don’t go to plan. To the south of the settled area lies “The Fringes” where genetic variations are more common, and further south again are “The Badlands”, which are still uninhabitable as a result of the nuclear holocaust. I know that the people of Waknuk were immoral in their thinking, but that did not justify mass-murder. They were simply uneducated and needed guidance. Telepathy is not a requirement for intelligence. When the community discovers that David and Rosalind together with a small group of other young people have developed the ability to communicate telepathically, they are forced to flee for their lives. They are re-united with their friend Sophie, earlier banished to the Fringes for the disgusting aberration of having six toes instead of the normal five. David's younger sister, Petra, able to communicate her thoughts with a power and at a distance far beyond any of the other children discovers the presence of others like them in a distant community who mount a campaign to rescue the children from their persecutors.

This is the story of David, a young boy who has a troubled upbringing in a rural farming community. He's brought into a culture where 'Deviation' is seen as Devil-work and anything that 'Deviates' in any way must be exterminated. This extends through all the crops that the farmers grow, right through to the children they birth. Any abnormality will mean death or desertion of children/burning of crops. Nothing is allowed to go against the True Image, and David's father is one of the most staunch in the community about enforcing this rule. David describes his family as consisting of his mother, his two sisters, Mary and Sarah, and his Uncle Axel. There are also maids and farm workers and their families who live in their complex of houses, and everyone shares meals together in their big room at the end of the day. Waknuk is a very busy farm, and David often avoids work by sneaking away when no one is looking, hiding away playing until dinner time.Rosalind Morton is David's closest friend among the group of telepaths. They become more of a couple later on in the book. She lives on a neighbouring farm and is David's half cousin. Many years have passed since a devastating nuclear war left much of the world in ruins. A small village in northern Labrador comprised of religious fundamentalists is on the lookout for what they call “deviations” - food, animals or even people who deviate from the socially acceptable norm. Once these deviations have been discovered, it is either to be destroyed on the spot or if you’re one of the few people born with a deformity, sterilized and banished from the community, destined to live in what they call “The Fringes”. we can make a better world than the Old People. They were only ingenious half-humans, little better than savages; all living shut off from one another, with only clumsy words to link them. Often they were shut off still more by different languages, and different beliefs. Some of them could think individually, but they had to remain individuals. Emotions they could sometimes share, but they could not think collectively. When their conditions were primitive they could get along all right, as the animals can; but the more complex they made their world, the less capable they were of dealing with it. They had no means of consensus. They learnt to co-operate constructively in small units; but only destructively in large units. They aspired greedily, and then refused to face the responsibilities they had created. They created vast problems, then buried their heads in the sands of idle faith. There was, you see, no real communication, no understanding between them. They could, at their best, be near-sublime animals, but not more." (p.156) The novel was adapted by Barbara Clegg as a single 90-minute drama for BBC Radio 4, directed by Michael Bartlett, and first broadcast on 24 April 1981. The cast includes: