Only Ever Yours

Starred review from April 6, 2015
In the dystopian society of Irish author O’Neill’s harrowing debut, freida is a 16-year-old “eve,” manufactured by genetic engineers and raised to serve men. The eves (whose individual names are never capitalized in the book, unlike those of men) spend 16 years learning how to avoid “Unacceptable Emotions”—such as anger—and to scrupulously maintain their appearance, all in the hopes of catching the eye of one of 10 Inheritants, “the very men for whom were created.” O’Neill’s novel spans the months leading up to the ceremony when freida and her fellow eves will be divided into three groups: companions (akin to wives), concubines, and chastities. Competition, cruelty, and self-critique thrive at freida’s school (“We may be perfectly designed, but really our eyes are too close together and our thighs are too big”), yet she can’t quite stamp out her skepticism toward the system and her sympathy for herself, her peers, and especially her best friend, isabel. Terrifying and heartbreaking, O’Neill’s story reads like an heir to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and M.T. Anderson’s Feed, and, like those books, it’s sure to be discussed for years to come. Ages 13–up.

June 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-freida and isabel live at the School, where every element of their world is closely controlled. They have been trained in the ways of perfect femininity, spending all of their time thinking exclusively about their appearances. At 16, the girls are in their final year so they must be more perfect than ever-that's the only way they will be selected as companions. Their fates otherwise are too horrible to contemplate. But isabel, always top in the class, begins to unravel. freida must now figure out what is happening to her best friend while the biggest change, and challenge, in their lives approaches. This British debut takes dystopias to the next level of intensity and bleakness. O'Neill creates a future world where girls are only products and they aren't even worthy of having their names begin with capital letters. Sophisticated readers will be quickly drawn into the horrific landscape and, thanks to the author's deft characterization and strong world-building, will feel the same kind of claustrophobic fear freida and isabel feel. These elements make the book immediate, compelling, and appealingly different. At points, however, the narrative strives too hard to make the dystopian future world an exaggerated mirror of our own, bogging down the plot. This book is dark and unrelenting, there are no revolutions or happy endings to be had here. VERDICT Recommended as an additional purchase where older teens are looking for more depth in their dystopian fiction.-Angie Manfredi, Los Alamos County Library System, NM

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