The year is 2140 and we've found how to never grow old or die. However, the planet can not support a ever growing population making for the worlds governments to adopt a very interesting solution that decides the very humanity of its people. A fantastic story of life, death and what comes between. Ages 12 up.

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.

GEMMA MALLEY studied philosophy at Reading University before working as a journalist.  A successful author of women’s fiction, The Declaration is her first book for young readers. She lives in London with her family.

Imprint: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Distributor: MPS
Publication Date: 10-02-2007
Pages: 320
Measurements: 7.75in X 5.06in