Where women are created for the pleasure of men, beauty is the first duty of every girl. In Louise O'Neill's world of Only Every Yours women are no longer born naturally, girls (called "eves") are raised in Schools and trained in the arts of pleasing men until they come of age. freida and isabel are best friends. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year, they expect to be selected as companions--wives to powerful men. All they have to do is ensure they stay in the top ten beautiful girls in their year. The alternatives--life as a concubine, or a chastity (teaching endless generations of girls)--are too horrible to contemplate.
But as the intensity of final year takes hold, the pressure to be perfect mounts. isabel starts to self-destruct, putting her beauty--her only asset--in peril. And then into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride. freida must fight for her future--even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known.
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About the Author:
Louise O'Neill was born in west Cork in 1985. She studied English at Trinity College Dublin and has worked for the senior Style Director of American Elle magazine. While in New York, she also worked as an assistant stylist on a number of high-profile campaigns. She is currently working as a freelance journalist for a variety of Irish national newspapers and magazines, covering feminist issues, fashion and pop culture.
Review:
Winner of the 2014 Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year Award at the BGE Irish Book Awards
"A haunting dystopian novel for fans of The Handmaid's Tale"―Refinery29
"A dark dream. A vivid nightmare. The world O'Neill imagines is frightening because it could come true. She writes with a scalpel."
―Jeanette Winterson
"Utterly magnificent . . . gripping, accomplished and dark."―Marian Keyes
"[A] terrifying but captivating book."―Company magazine
"Disturbing, provocative . . . I was utterly captivated from beginning to end."―Gabriel Byrne ("In Treatment," "The Usual Suspects," "Miller's Crossing)
"Dark and thought-provoking... There are some good Logan's Run shivers, and it is beautifully written."―Tara Flynn, The Irish Times
"Only Ever Yours is a chilling dystopian fantasy... It has the bleakness of Catcher in the Rye, the satire of The Stepford Wives and it made me recall how scared I felt reading Nineteen Eighty-Four... But by far the best thing about Louise O' Neill's book is that it is well written, by a fresh and original talent."―Anne Cunningham, Irish Independent
"Compelling writing and a brutal conclusion means this only-too-real dystopia grips from beginning to end."―SFX Magazine
"O'Neill has talent to burn; this dystopian YA debut is both compelling and frightening."―Irish Examiner
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherQuercus
- Publication date2016
- ISBN 10 1681449579
- ISBN 13 9781681449579
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages416
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