Driven more by plot than characterization, Malley's first novel, set in a future England, probes provocative issues about the growth of the human population and our dwindling resources. The year is 2140, and Longevity drugs have been discovered that prolong life for as long as someone uses them. The catch: if you wish to take Longevity drugs, you must forfeit your right to have a child, or "Opt Out." This is clearly stated in the Declaration and fiercely enforced. Of course, some people break the rules: any child born to someone who did not "Opt Out" is considered "Surplus," sentenced to a prison-like orphanage and raised to serve the "Legals" (those who follow the rules). Mrs. Pincent, the House Matron of Grange Hall, brainwashes these Surplus children into believing they are worthless beings who drain the planet of its resources. Anna, the 14-year-old at the center of the novel, has been indoctrinated so well that she has risen to Prefect--and has no friends, since her peers see her, rightly, as an informant. Then one day, Surplus Peter arrives and reveals to Anna that she has parents who love her, and who are part of an Underground Movement that rebels against the Declaration.Malley is at her best in conveying Anna's inner struggle as she at first resists then comes to accept this new information, which goes against everything she has been trained to believe. In a pivotal scene, Anna realizes, when she overhears Mrs. Pincent, that Peter is telling the truth ("Anna had never known the feeling of hatred before, but now it raged through her body like a rampant cancer"). Several plot points feel contrived (e.g., Mrs. Pincent's history, the role of Surplus Sheila), but the world Anna inhabits seems so chillingly real, that readers will be swept up in the questions it raises: Does one human being have a greater right to the planet than another? If you knew that the world's resources would run out during your lifetime (now that you can live forever), what would you do differently? Is immortality desirable? Perhaps the greatest irony is that the Surplus youth are the ones supplying the stem cells required for the drugs that keep the older population alive.--Jennifer M. Brown