This map plots the settings and references in The Chrysalids
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Labrador, Canada - Credit:
Gene.arboit
The Chrysalids is set in a post-apocalyptic and much warmer Labrador, a region of Atlantic Canada. The main action takes place around the Waknuk area, which is based on the small mining town of Wabush in southwestern Labrador.
The rapids near Wabush - Credit:
Neil Carey
The local government is located in a city called Rigo, based on the modern day Inuit community of Rigolet.
The port of Lark (modern day Lark Harbor) is also mentioned by David’s uncle Axel as a place for sailors to stop and buy provisions on the way to the island of Newf (Newfoundland).
A restored pioneer house at the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, Texas.
Following what was presumably a nuclear holocaust known as Tribulation that wiped out the ‘Old People’, the residents of Waknuk and the surrounding area have established a Christian Fundamentalist community, revolving around the church and resembling that of the American Frontier of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Shire horses on Juist - Credit:
gerriet
Farming is the main industry, but technology is basic. Mutants such as the giant great horses are given legal status as they are very profitable for farming purposes since tractor technology has been lost.
The community strives to achieve the ‘true image’ and all mutations not seen as profitable are outlawed. All animal and plant mutants are killed or burnt, babies that are abnormal are killed and older children or adults discovered to be abnormal are sterilized and exiled to the Fringes.
Sunset over Labrador - Credit:
grampymoose