It was mainly the fact that I didn’t fully understand it that made me curious to reread it. The only things I remembered about Trouble with Lichen, besides the general premise and a few random details, were that I didn’t like it, didn’t understand it, and couldn’t wait for it to be over. Why would I do such a silly thing with my limited reading time? Well, let’s say it was an experiment. But this time I decided to reread a book I did not enjoy at all. So far, my rereads have all been books I enjoyed when I first read them. It has been even more rewarding than I anticipated.

But the younger and more daring Diana sees an opportunity to overturn the male status quo and free women from the career-versus-children binary-in short, a chance to remake the world.įor the past few years I have peppered my reading with rereads from my youth. Francis, realizing the horrifying implications of an ever-youthful wealthy elite, decides to keep his findings a secret. What if humans discovered the secret to prolonged life?įrancis Saxover and Diana Brackley, two biochemists investigating a rare lichen, separately discover that it has a remarkable It slows the aging process almost to a halt. Wyndham was uniquely gifted at skewering humankind’s foibles while maintaining a shred of hope that our better angels would prevail.”-Kate Folk, from the introduction “It was a genius move for John Wyndham to center an age-slowing narrative on women, who are still today pressured to remain youthful-looking forever, or succumb to social invisibility. A “sharp, amusing story” ( The Guardian ) about the fountain of youth and its implications for women’s rights, by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant-and neglected-science fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of science fiction that England has ever produced.”

Trouble with lichen by john wyndham