CULTIVATING SUNSHINE

In Smith’s YA SF novel set in an unnamed, struggling city, a young orphan makes a terrifying discovery about the school in which she resides.

Mona, a student in the third pod for 10- and 11-year-olds at an unnamed residential school in the postwar era, believes she’s lucky to be there instead of in an overrun orphanage. Mona and her friend Owen, a natural storyteller, are gifted with excellent memories, which make them prime subjects for individualized memory training. Their education is also steeped in government indoctrination in a society in which elections aren’t democratic, the Chancellor is selected by a senate, and many live in poverty. Questioning the validity of this system is forbidden. Students are trained in advanced memory techniques, but the school isn’t a school at all but a corporation called the Company that specializes in “Selective Memory Extraction and Implantation.” After Mona realizes exactly what’s going on there, she uses her unique talents and the assistance of a sympathetic lab technician to plot her escape. Smith’s two primary characters are lively and vivid but have appealingly distinct personalities, and the worldbuilding is superb without taking over the story. The author wisely balances material regarding the Company with stories of the kids who reside there. Although it has a postapocalyptic setting, it doesn’t ever feel clichéd; readers see just enough of the world through the kids’ eyes to understand what’s happening, but it’s never heavy-handed or saddled with lengthy backstory. The science at the heart of the story is creative, and the story’s pacing is swift and exciting, particularly in the second half.

A brisk and engaging tale of discovery and escape.