Trouble with Lichen

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.

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… . 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

What if humans discovered the secret to prolonged life?

Francis Saxover and Diana Brackley, two biochemists investigating a rare lichen, separately discover that it has a remarkable property: It slows the aging process almost to a halt. Francis, realizing the horrifying implications of an ever-youthful wealthy elite, decides to keep his findings a secret. 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.