OFF: Chrysalids

[Christian Mumford]

Seems like a powerful story. Here is the Wikipedia plot summary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chrysalids







[edit] Plot summary
A few thousand years in the future post-apocalypse rural Labrador
has become a warmer and more hospitable place than it is at present.
The inhabitants of Labrador have vague historical recollections of "The
Old People", a technologically advanced civilization which existed long
ago and which they believe was destroyed when God sent "Tribulation"
to the world to punish their forebears' sins. The society that has
survived in Labrador is loosely reminiscent of the American frontier of about the 18th century. The inhabitants practice a form of fundamentalist Christianity
with post-apocalyptic prohibitions. They believe that in order to
follow God's word and prevent another Tribulation, they need to
preserve absolute normality among the surviving humans, plants and
animals. Genetic invariance has been elevated to the highest religious
principle, and humans with even minor mutations are considered
"Blasphemies" and the handiwork of the Devil. Individuals not
conforming to a strict physical norm are either killed or sterilized
and banished to the Fringes, a forbidden area still rife with animal
and plant mutations. Arguments occur over the keeping of a tailless cat
or the possession of oversize horses. These are deemed by the
government to be legitimate breeds either pre-existing or achieved
through conventional breeding. The government's position is considered
both cynical and heretical by the orthodox frontier community.

The inland rural settlement of Waknuk is a frontier farming
community, populated with hardy and pious individuals intent on
reclaiming land from the Fringes. Ten-year-old David Strorm, the son of
Waknuk's zealous religious patriarch, has inexplicably vivid dreams of
brightly lit cities and horseless carts that are at odds with his pre-industrial
experience. Despite David's rigorous religious training, he befriends
Sophie, a girl carefully concealing the fact that she has six toes on
each foot. With the nonchalance of childhood David keeps her secret.
The subsequent discovery of Sophie's mutation and her family's
attempted flight causes David to wonder at the brutal persecution of
human "Blasphemies" and the ritual culling of animal and plant
"Deviations". David and a few others of his generation harbor their own
invisible mutation: they have strong telepathic
abilities. David begins to question why all who are different must be
banished or killed. As they mature, David and his fellow telepaths
realize that their unusual mutation would be considered a "blasphemy"
and they carefully conceal their abilities. That their mutation cannot
be directly detected allows their unusual abilities to remain
undiscovered for a time. Eventually the group is exposed and David, his
half-cousin Rosalind and younger sister Petra flee to the Fringes.
Through the unusually strong telepathic abilities of Petra they make
contact with a more advanced society in distant "Sealand". David,
Rosalind and Petra elude their would-be captors and are rescued by the
Sealand mission to discover the source of Petra's telepathic
transmissions.

Though the nature of "Tribulation" is not explicitly stated, it is implied that it was a nuclear holocaust,
both by the mutations, and by the stories of sailors who report
blackened, glassy wastes to the south-west where the remains of faintly
glowing cities can be seen. Sailors venturing too close to these ruins
experience symptoms consistent with radiation sickness.
A woman from Sealand, a character with evident knowledge of the Old
People's technology, mentions "the power of gods in the hands of
children".

> Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:26:37 -0400
> From: maryann.sullivan1 at VERIZON.NET
> Subject: Re: Chrysalids
> To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
> 
> I agree, it is a fin story, and would be great as a movie.
> 
> Mary
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List
> [mailto:BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET]On Behalf Of M Holmes
> Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 6:41 AM
> To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
> Subject: Chrysalids
> 
> 
> > Thanks, Arin, I can never remember that.  Maybe I'll read it again, it was
> > quite short from what I remember.
> 
> > Mary
> 
> It's a great story. I'm amazed it's never been turned into a movie.
> 
> FoFP
> 
> 
> --
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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