SuitabookLaw and personal freedom
The Declaration asks people to give up having children, while refusing it leads to outcast status and children born outside it become Surplus.
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Book details
Gemma Malley - Author
A speculative story about a society that has traded having children for extremely long lives. Anna’s Surplus status places her inside a conflict between law, personal choice and the value attached to longevity.
In the year 2140, it is illegal to be young. Children are all but extinct. The world is a better place. Longevity drugs are a fountain of youth. Sign the Declaration, agree not to have children and you too can live forever. Refuse, and you will live as an outcast. For the children born outside the law, it only gets worse – Surplus status. Not everyone thinks Longevity is a good thing, but you better be clear what side you’re on. . . . Surplus Anna is about to find out what happens when you can’t decide if you should cheat the law or cheat death.
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Sign in for personalised guidanceA speculative story about a society that has traded having children for extremely long lives. Anna’s Surplus status places her inside a conflict between law, personal choice and the value attached to longevity.
The Declaration asks people to give up having children, while refusing it leads to outcast status and children born outside it become Surplus.
Longevity drugs are presented as a fountain of youth, but not everyone believes Longevity is good.
Children are nearly extinct, being young is illegal, and Anna is classified as Surplus because she was born outside the law.
The central tension is ideological and social: characters must weigh conformity, exclusion, parenthood and the appeal of living for ever. The book may suit readers ready to question apparently beneficial systems.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: the current material supports only a cautious reading; another book-specific source is still needed.
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