The Declaration by Gemma Malley

From the Publisher

It’s the year 2140 and Longevity drugs have all but eradicated old age. A never-aging society can’t sustain population growth, however…which means Anna should never have been born. Nor should any of the children she lives with at Grange Hall. The facility is full of boys and girls whose parents chose to have kids—called surpluses—despite a law forbidding them from doing so. These children are raised as servants, and brought up to believe they must atone for their very existence. Then one day a boy named Peter appears at the Hall, bringing with him news of the world outside, a place where people are starting to say that Longevity is bad, and that maybe people shouldn’t live forever. Peter begs Anna to escape with him, but Anna’s not sure who to trust: the strange new boy whose version of life sounds like a dangerous fairy tale, or the familiar walls of Grange Hall and the head mistress who has controlled her every waking thought? Chilling, poignant, and endlessly though-provoking, The Declaration is a powerful debut that will have readers agonizing over Anna’s fate until the very last page.

Publishers Weekly

Set in the year 2140 in England, this chilling dystopian tale explores issues of overpopulation, global warming and the ethics of immortality. A drug called Longevity has made life without death a reality for the masses-but driven humanity to the brink of a Malthusian catastrophe. Orwellian-like Authorities have all but outlawed procreation in an effort to stabilize the population. Those born illegally are inevitably captured, sent to processing facilities and taught to be Valuable Assets to society, i.e., slaves to the immortals. Surplus Anna has spent most of her 14 years inside Grange Hall, where she has learned to hate not only herself but also the parents who selfishly broke the Declaration in giving life to her. But the arrival of a rebellious Surplus named Peter, who has lived on the Outside, brings Anna disturbing revelations about the world and her particular place in it. In her first YA book, Malley (British author Gemma Townley writing under a pseudonym) successfully imparts a strong message about the need for continual change ("Nature is not about preserving old things, but about creating new ones. New life. New ideas"). Although the backstory and world-building elements seem slightly underdeveloped, readers with a taste for speculative fiction will enjoy this relevant read. Ages 10-up. (Nov.)

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up- Malley paints a picture even grimmer than that in James DeVita's The Silenced (HarperCollins, 2007). In Anna's world of 2140, almost everyone on the planet has access to Longevity-a drug that arrests the aging process. Energy, food, and other resources are scarce, so around the world, humanity has made the same choice-no new humans can be allowed. In the U.K., any children born to Legals are Surplus. Catchers capture them and send them to horrid places like Grange Hall, where they are taught that their very existence is a sin and to make up for the resources that they steal from Legals they must pay with a lifetime of abject servitude. Surplus Anna is close to leaving Grange Hall and, she hopes, becoming a Valuable Asset when a new teenage Surplus arrives. Peter is different from anyone Anna has ever known. He gradually convinces her that he knows her parents and that they are kind and loving, contrary to everything that she has been taught. As their escape unfolds, readers also learn the backstory of the cruel House Matron of Grange Hall. The two stories collide in a startling climax. Malley combines issues of the environment, immoral incarceration, slavery, and torture into an enthralling tale. This novel will appeal to any teens who have ever felt their age held against them without evidence of any wrongdoing on their part.-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Kirkus Reviews

A futuristic adventure reminiscent of Kazuo Ishiguro's adult novel Never Let Me Go. Anna is a "Surplus," an illegally born child. In 2140, medical breakthroughs have enabled eternal life, so there is no room in the world for children. Those, like Anna, who are born illegally are raised in Surplus Halls, where they are taught how to "Know Their Place" and become "Valuable Assets." Anna is grateful for her home in the freezing cold Surplus Hall, for her tiny shares of bad food and for the teachers who give her the skills she will need after graduation when she will work in forced labor for "Legal People." But Anna's comfortable world of Knowing Her Place is disrupted when a new Surplus arrives, a boy named Peter who claims to bring messages from Anna's parents. Peter challenges everything Anna has ever believed about society, nature and morality. Anna's adventure is well worth reading; this unreliable narrator's faith in her tormentors is thought-provoking and deeply sad. (Science fiction. 11-13)

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