The Declaration

3.5 stars

"My name is Anna. My name is Anna and I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t exist. But I do. It’s not my fault I’m here. I didn’t ask to be born. But that doesn’t make it any better that I was. They caught me early, though, which bodes well."

The year is 2140. Now that scientists have perfected the Longevity drug, the human race can live for eternity, safe from all forms of infection. Cancer is a thing of the past. But those who sign the Declaration must suffer the consequences - if they don’t want to live for ever, then they are permitted to have children unless they choose to sacrifice themselves. A life for a life, or the world will run out of room and resources, and then no one will survive.


But of course, there will always be those who break the rules, and Surpluses are created. Surpluses have no purpose. They are raised in Surplus halls, away from their criminal parents who broke the law, and taught to be Valuable Assets. Anna is a Surplus. She has lived in Grange Hall all her life and believes everything she hears about Surpluses only being fit to serve the Legals, to act as slaves. And then comes Peter, and at long last the wool is lifted from Anna’s eyes. Finally, she begins to realise that outside Grange Hall, freedom awaits.


Malley is not a well known author, but she deserves to be after this delightful piece of work. Admittedly, it sometimes becomes a little dodgy plot wise - some things are just too coincidental to be credible; what are the chances of there being a secret escape tunnel in the place where bad Surpluses are sent which has remained undiscovered for years? - but Malley’s imagination is extraordinary. The very idea of Longevity, the Declaration, all these new laws Malley had created… And yet still, she remains realistic (okay, as realistic as possible in this situation) by not trying to inject too much futurism into the story: she doesn’t suddenly decide that in 2140, robots and aliens and suchlike will be the norm. Global warming has not disappeared; Malley has introduced energy coupons to tackle this crisis. Aside from a few pieces of advanced technology, not much has been changed.


However, what’s interesting is that at times, society seems to have taken a step back, with Grange Hall reminiscent to an Oliver Twist workhouse. Evermore intriguing is that, just like in Oliver Twist, a piece of jewellery holds the key to a young boy’s quest to find the truth about his parentage. Perhaps the style of the novel influences this opinion, but there is also the reintroduction of rationing coupons, only his time it’s energy, not food being restricted.The level of detail and quality of the plot provided by Malley deserves a round of applause. It certainly takes a very talented writer to produce such an intricate, imaginative, thought provoking story as this, and I, for one, will be keeping an eye out for Malley’s work in the future. I can’t wait for the sequel to come out, and finger crossed for a film adaptation. The Declaration is most definitely not a Surplus.