Only Ever Yours
by Louise O'NeillGenres: Young Adult, Dystopian, Fiction
Published on June 30th 2014
Pages: 400
Freida and isabel have been best friends their whole lives. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the School, they expect to be selected as companions - wives to wealthy and powerful men.
The alternative - life as a concubine - is too horrible to contemplate.
But as the intensity of the final year takes hold, the pressure to be perfect mounts. Isabel starts to self-destruct, putting her beauty - her only asset - in peril.
And then into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.
Freida must fight for her future - even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known...
It was the tagline on the book that got me. “Mean Girls meets The Handmaid’s Tale”
In this world female children are taught that their only asset is beauty. They will be selected into one of three groups – companions, the privileged wives of men; concubines, the playthings of men; or if chosen of either of those they will be teachers who live to serve the girls yet to be chosen. All women die before the age of 40.
Every day the girl’s popularity is ranked based on pictures taken each morning. Their social media profiles are watched by those outside the school to see who is the best. They have to maintain a very narrow weight range or they are but on calorie blockers. They have to be “perfect.”
In their last year though, a change comes over Isabel. Isabel has always been ranked number one but now she is gaining weight. That is the worst thing that can happen to a girl. She doesn’t seem to care though. Frieda can’t understand why she is doing this when the boys are about to come to pick their companions.
This book seems to be meant to be accessible to those who are too young to read The Handmaid’s Tale. It is only about the school. You don’t have to see the lives of sex slavery that the companions and concubines are forced into. The book ends with the selection. The ending is very quick and nothing seems resolved. I knocked it down a star for that.
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I think I’d find this too depressing. The Handmaid’s Tale scarred me for life, but in a good way, if you know what I mean. It’s why I never wavered from calling myself a feminist even when it wasn’t popular.
I wonder if the abrupt ending signals a future book? Although if it’s meant to be YA, there may not be much farther that the author could go with this.
I’m scarred too. I have a copy of The Handmaid’s Tale but I’ve never reread it. I can’t quite make myself do it.
It’s a shame the ending was a bit of an abrupt cliffhanger, but other than that this sounds like such a thought-provoking and eye-opening story. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! <3