Plus One

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. (Apr.)