A dying wish. A family divided. A love that defies the law. Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays, who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol concocts a plan to kidnap her newborn niece—a Ray—in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. Sol's violation of the day/night curfew is already a serious crime, but when her kidnap attempt goes awry, she stumbles on a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population. Sol escapes the authorities with an unexpected ally: a Ray who gets in her way, a boy she might have hated if fate hadn't forced them on the run together—a boy the world now tells her she can't love. Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day/night divide, Elizabeth Fama's Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights, and a fast-paced romantic adventure story.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 2, 2016 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- File size: 286982 KB
- Duration: 09:57:52
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 17, 2014
In a world divided into Day and Night—less designations of time than of social class—Sol and her older brother, Ciel, are the surviving children of “equal-opportunity terrorists” who sought to overthrow this schism. Born as Smudges, or denizens of Night, they are separated when Ciel is arrested and, shockingly, offered reassignment to Day for his computer skills. Sol’s story begins when she hears that Ciel has fathered a child. Their dying grandfather longs to hold the baby, but Ciel has turned his back on the family. In Sol, Fama (Monstrous Beauty) creates not a revolutionary, but a sullen rebel without a cause except the love of her grandfather; her wild scheme to kidnap her brother’s child has repercussions far beyond one family’s estrangement. Abetted unwillingly by a Day boy, D’Arcy, Sol staggers and dashes through the checkpoints and barriers of a corrupt social order, mayhem ballooning around her. Fama smoothly unspools the details of her alternate Earth’s history in conversational flashbacks that never impede the brisk pacing, yet enhance the sense of connection with her very human characters. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. -
Julia Whelan's impassioned narration enhances the author's story of an alternate reality. In this world, citizens are divided--living either by day or by night. Seventeen-year-old Soleil Le Coeur is a "smudge"--someone relegated by law to live under the veil of night. Sol fakes an injury as part of her plan to give her dying grandfather one last gift--to hold his great-granddaughter, Sol's niece, who is a "ray," someone who lives her life during the day. Unknowingly, Sol sets in motion a series of events that lead to political unrest and unlikely love. Sol's desperation and intense love come through powerfully in Whelan's delivery as the members of an intriguing subculture come to life. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
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