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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Characters persecuted and killed for being different; the religious-social violence is systematic rather than graphic
Language
None
No profanity
Sexual Content
None
No sexual content; mild romantic feelings
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Strong psychological content: religious persecution, the terror of discovery, and the psychological cost of living under a system that would destroy you are the novel's sustained subjects
What this book is about
Set in a far-future post-nuclear society in a region where fundamentalist Christianity has evolved to demand physical conformity — any deviation from the 'true image of God' results in exile or death — David Strorm discovers that he and a small group of friends share a secret telepathic ability that would mark them as blasphemous mutants. John Wyndham's 1955 classic is a precise and unsettling examination of religious extremism, the fear of difference, and what survival costs. Spare and devastating.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Religious extremism and persecution as central themes
Characters executed for physical difference or mutation
Dystopian violence against non-conformists
Reader Verification
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