As is common with authors writing in and of the period, the women are decorative and domestic, but largely sidelined in a friendly way. Younger sister Polly is plausibly annoying, but not given many redeeming qualities. However, in in the collection Consider Her Ways and Others (see my review HERE), a couple of the stories have a strong female/feminist slant. BBC Radio 4 presented a reading by Andrew Burt of the novel in seven 15-minute episodes, abridged by Neville Teller, produced by David Johnson, and broadcast daily between 19 and 27 May 1975. Wyndham described the odd rather than the fantastic, the disturbing rather than the horrific, the remarkable rather than the outrageous.” I listened to the audiobook narrated by Damien Lynch, who does a very good job, bringing every character to life and managing the children’s voices well – not something every narrator can pull off. His unhurried approach suits the tone of the book and allows the listener time to absorb the themes. Wyndham] was responsible for a series of eerily terrifying tales of destroyed civilisations; created several of the twentieth century’s most imaginative monsters; and wrote a handful of novels that are rightly regarded as modern classics.”

The penultimate bit of the plot was incongruously far-fetched and almost comic. Not massively so, but it spoiled the overall experience for me, though I’m not sure what I’d have written instead. Fortunately, the actual end was touching, without becoming overly sentimental. intelligent life is the only thing that gives meaning to the universe. It is a holy thing, to be fostered and treasured.…" The Chrysalids comes heart-wrenchingly close to being John Wyndham’s most powerful and profound work.” Wyndham singlehandedly invented a whole pile of sub-genres of SF. It’s as if . . . in the 1950s he was plugged in to the world’s subconscious fears and articulated them one by one in short, amazingly readable novels.”You should be employing your resources, while you still have them, to tap and develop the use of a source of power which is not finite…." Later that evening when Matthew goes upstairs to bed, the doctor relays his findings: from what he can determine, Matthew's experience is somewhat similar to what our human ancestors called "possession," although in Matthew's case, it isn't possession in the traditional sense, it's more like a rational, working relationship. By using Matthew's adoptive father as the narrator Wyndham is able to employ him as the voice of reason contrasting him with the emotional response of his adoptive mother. The only thing they agree on is that, although Matthew doesn't seem at all frightened or unhappy, his behaviour is certainly not normal. A pioneering science-fiction master confronts an enigma as strange as anything found in his classic works, The Day of the Triffids or The Chrysalids: the mind of a child. While the 1968 novel was set in an unspecified 'near future', the TV adaptation was set contemporaneously in the mid-1980s in Surrey. The Gore family acquire a second generation Citroën CX car which was marketed as being technologically advanced at the time.

The novel was adapted and produced by John Tydeman as a single 60-minute drama for the BBC Radio 2, first broadcast on 27 November 1968. The cast includes: This quirky alien-meets-boy story “remains fresh and disturbing in an entirely unexpected way”—for fans of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ( The Guardian).The non-binary people who are increasingly visible today can surely relate to being pigeon-holed that way.

An adaptation by John Constable as a single 90-minute drama for BBC Radio 4, directed by Melanie Harris, was first broadcast on 18 March 1998. Music was by Paul Gargill, and the cast included:No, no. This is still a rational world in this short novel. Of course, if King wrote it, I would expect something with a death toll, a very, very angry alien, and a kid hounded by pitchforks. The show isn't without it's problems though. It's a very slow affair, and the pacing feels drawn out - almost to the point where I felt that my attention was waning in certain parts (and that's my adult brain talking). Most of this first series involved the parents just sitting around talking, and I can't quite see how that would be entertaining for a child. The Chrysalids is a famous example of 1950s Cold War science fiction, but its portrait of a community driven to authoritarian madness by its overwhelming fear of difference—in this case, of genetic mutations in the aftermath of nuclear war—finds its echoes in every society.” That is not what I got, though. And I have to reflect on the fact that my expectations were so stereotypical. Why would I expect a highly intelligent, curious extraterrestrial explorer to be as evil and stupid as humans have proven to be, over and over again? Why would I expect it to be even worse? Why would I feel threatened by the unknown, even before I see any signs of danger? One of the most thoughtful post-apocalypse novels ever written. Wyndham was a true English visionary, a William Blake with a science doctorate.”

The second (my personal favourite) and third series have much better pacing and more focus on the children which makes for a superior watch I feel. However, despite it's sometimes turgid (some might say dull) pace, there is a better sense of authenticity to this first series. Alien telepathy. I mean, hello! Since light is the speed limit, the only reasonably efficient method of exploration has got to be SOMETHING ELSE. Especially if you want to send real spaceships to other intelligent races, you need to make sure you're welcome. :) The series was also broadcast and popular in Czechoslovakia where it was dubbed in both Czech and Slovak languages. It was also dubbed in French and broadcast in Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s; in Spanish and broadcast in Spain in the late 1980s. It was hugely popular in Bulgaria in the second half of 1980s. Also in Cuba. All episodes of Season 1 and Season 2 were shown numerous times. Interesante novela, amena, entretenida y que para estar escrita en 1968 deja entrever un concepto como el del aprovechamiento de la energía oscura, la cual no se descubrió hasta finales del siglo XX, y que muy recientemente he visto utilizado como recurso también por Stephen Baxter en “Galaxias”.The answer to my question to myself is that human beings are conditioned to distrust anything that is different from themselves. And it takes a lot of thinking and mental training to understand that our own way of life is not the universal default setting. The beautiful ending conveys a message to those in a powerful, strong position: sometimes withdrawing from that power and letting children develop at their own pace is the most loving and caring thing you can do. Sometimes successful careers, fame and celebrity are dangerous and not to be encouraged. Sometimes less ambitious, quiet self-fulfilment in art or literature is to be preferred. Sometimes less is more. A]bsolutely and completely brilliant… The Chrysalids is a top-notch piece of sci-fi that should be enjoyed for generations yet to come.” When David Gore, the narrator, overhears his adopted son, Matthew, having a conversation with what he assumes is an imaginary friend he becomes concerned. Apart from the fact that Matthew is almost twelve years old and so surely past the age when he should have an imaginary friend, it also seems to be a very strange conversation, with questions no twelve-year-old would normally ask. That certainly rings true for this short novel: less drama, but more thought-provoking ideas than in most bestselling science fiction.