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Each citizen must contribute to society. If a citizen fails to find a suitable objective, one will be assigned.
In the Canopy Complex, no one grows old. Age is for the little mice, the donors far below who bleed so the privileged can thrive. Seventeen-year-old Astra Fairwood has never questioned the system. Why would she? As the daughter of the Chief Enforcer, her future is secure – a life of parties and privilege. Until everything is taken from her.
Cast out of the Canopy and condemned to the Donor Zone, Astra is forced into the very world she was raised to fear. She meets a girl who challenges everything she thought she wanted and soon learns the Canopy taught her to fear the wrong thing. The real threat was never the Zone.
With tensions rising and the people she loves most in danger, Astra must choose between the life she was promised and the truth she can no longer ignore. Does a world built on the blood of others deserve to survive?
"Fantastic dystopian concepts...Full of complex characters...The detailed world is a triumph and the story itself is compelling. A real page turner. " –Becca Barnes, award-winning author and producer of Power Rangers
“Read this in two sittings! Little Mice pulled me in fast — from Astra's life in the gleaming Canopy until she crosses into the Donor Zone, and from that point on the plot really thickens. Great characters. Astra is a compelling lead, naive in a believable way but quick to grow, and the supporting cast all feel like real people with their own secrets and motives. Twisty, fast-paced, and delightfully (worryingly!) dystopian. –Kirsty (Goodreads reviewer)
“Very topical dystopian story. You can see how this could happen in the future with today's times of growing inequality. I enjoyed the characters and their growth through adversity. Values not tested are just words after all. The story really picks up like a 'whodunit', so you want to keep turning the page. Passing on to my 18 year old next.” –Gillain (Goodreads reviewer)
“This was a gripping read. The storyline, topic and characters were all engaging. The short chapters made it easy to pick up and put down. Also very much enjoyed by my 14 year old son. We look forward to the sequel!” –Sophie (Goodreads reviewer)
"A very impressive debut novel. A wholly original story with an unsettlingly plausible medical-technological central concept. Set in the not too distant future the novel is told from the POV of Astra, the pampered, sheltered, yet sympathetic central character. As readers we share her creeping realisation about what is really going on and who makes the sacrifices for some people to live a life of luxury. The author manages to fully develop and keep control of a large cast of characters who introduce adventure, romance, and humour to the story. It’s aimed at young adults, but as a middle-aged reader there was still plenty here for me. If you are a fan of dystopian sci-fi and liked The Handmaid’s Tale, Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, or The Hunger Games, this is for you. –Alannah (Goodreads reviewer)
She spent her childhood with her nose buried in books. After university, she spent a decade in publishing sales at The Guardian and New Scientist before moving into early years education, where she taught phonics using storytelling, puppets, and a fair amount of enthusiastic (if questionable) singing.
More recently, Tara worked at Ingenious, a company making collagen supplements. She was fascinated by the increasingly clever ways science can trick our bodies into looking and feeling younger, and the inspiration for her novel Little Mice came from a news segment about young blood plasma being used to rejuvenate older people — a concept she found both intriguing and unsettling. The idea lingered: What happens when youth itself becomes a commodity?
She lives in South London, England with her husband, teenage children, an adventurous cat, and a spectacularly lazy dog.