A world paralysed by genetic mutation John Wyndham takes the reader into the anguished heart of a community where the chances of breeding true are less than fifty percent and where deviations are rooted out and destroyed as offences and abominations. As one reviewer wrote when "The Chrysalids" was first published: 'John Wyndham really does write... with a sort of hyaline simplicity, perfect timing, miraculous avoidance of cliché and a gentle, sophisticated, slightly astringent humour. He is one of the few authors whose compulsive readability is a compliment to the intelligence.'

Publication Year: 1955