Try free for 30 days

  • The Chrysalids

  • By: John Wyndham
  • Narrated by: Noah Reid
  • Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (359 ratings)

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
The Chrysalids cover art

The Chrysalids

By: John Wyndham
Narrated by: Noah Reid
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $24.99

Buy Now for $24.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

David Strorm's father doesn't approve of Angus Morton's unusually large horses, calling them blasphemies against nature. Little does he realise that his own son, his niece Rosalind and their friends have their own secret aberration that would label them as mutants. But as David and Rosalind grow older it becomes more difficult to conceal their differences from the village elders. Soon they face a choice: wait for eventual discovery or flee to the terrifying and mutable Badland.... 

About the author: John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Benyon Harris was born in 1903, the son of a barrister. He tried a number of careers, including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, and started writing short stories, intended for sale, in 1925. From 1930 to 1939 he wrote stories of various kinds under different names, almost exclusively for American publications, while also writing detective novels. During the war he was in the Civil Service and then the Army. In 1946 he went back to writing stories for publication in the USA and decided to try a modified form of science fiction, a form he called 'logical fantasy'.

©1955 John Wyndham (P)2021 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about The Chrysalids

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    265
  • 4 Stars
    76
  • 3 Stars
    16
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    256
  • 4 Stars
    67
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    249
  • 4 Stars
    65
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

an old favourite

This is an old favourite revisited. It is much better than I remember from my teenage years... perhaps now I am mature enough to understand the emotions better.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of the best stories I’ve ever heard.

This book is going straight to the top of my favourites it’s that fantastic. It was written a long time ago but it feels as if it could’ve been written yesterday. It’s so hard to describe & other reviewers do a much better job than I do. All ill add is that It’s got an amazing kind of fantasy world morality to it that makes you think deeply about the way you view cultures & the people in them without being at all preachy or contrived.

The narrator is equally as brilliant & does a phenomenal job at conveying every emotion whilst still being even keeled. I can’t think of a single thing he could’ve done better. I will not only be checking out other books by this author, I’ll also be on the look out for other books read by this narrator.

10/10 on all front!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow! Fabulous

I’ve just gotta say it…this book is wonderful! I’m a little shocked that a book written in 1955 can feel so fresh and relevant. I’ve read John Wyndhams other books (Day of the Triffids, Midwich Cuckoos, Trouble with Lichen etc) and those ones feel a little dated. But The Chrysalids was a complete surprise. A wonderful story and absolutely beautifully narrated, it’s definitely going on my Favourite Book list. I love everything about it…thanks so much Audible for putting it in the Plus Catalogue.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Bloody brilliant!

I have never read this book but it’s on par with The Day off the Triffids.
Great narrator too.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great performance of a classic!

This is the book that inspired my love of science fiction/fantasy. The actor does a terrific job.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I remember this from the BBC radio play

I remember this from the BBC Radio play decades ago. I was struck how much of it had stuck with me all those years. A prophetic writer

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely captivating!

Such a great and unusual story. Got through it in one day, I couldn’t stop.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

So creative - ahead of the time.

My second Wyndham. I love how he thinks and creates his characters, it's so well thought through and the ending - so hopeful. I loved it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A loved classic

I read this book several times when I was a kid, naming it as one of my favourite books! It still has a great deal of appeal as an adult, able to understand the depths of this story on another level altogether. I think John Wyndham is one of the great pioneers of science fiction writing, engaging us in questions of ethics, religion, education and (most importantly) what it really means to be human.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Captivating story

It is all so very believable, all characters have depth and the plot is captivating. Beautiful narration as well

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.