The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (Sci-Fi Radio)

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The Chrysalids is a science fiction novel by British writer John Wyndham, first published in 1955 by Michael Joseph. It is the least typical of Wyndham's major novels but regarded by some as his best. An early manuscript version was entitled Time for a Change.

The novel was adapted for BBC radio by Barbara Clegg in 1982, with a further adaptation by Jane Rogers in 2012. It was also adapted for the theatre by playwright David Harrower in 1999.

Plot Summary
The inhabitants of post-apocalypse Labrador have vague knowledge of the "Old People", a technologically advanced civilization they believe was destroyed when God sent "Tribulation" to the world to punish their forebears' sins.

The inhabitants practice a form of fundamentalist Christianity; they believe that to follow God's word and prevent another Tribulation, they must preserve absolute normality among the surviving humans, plants, and animals, and therefore practice eugenics.

Humans with even minor mutations are considered blasphemies and either killed or sterilized and banished to the Fringes, a lawless and untamed area rife with animal and plant mutations and suggested to be contaminated with radiation.

Arguments occur over the keeping of a tailless cat or the possession of oversized horses. These are deemed by the government to be legitimate breeds, either existing before or achieved through conventional breeding.

The government's position is considered both cynical and heretical by many of the orthodox frontier community, and it is suggested that they support the usage of these animals for the sole purpose of their greater efficiency.