I had the pleasure of debating with Louise O'Neill on the #Gdnteenfeminism chat on Sunday 8 March, and this book was the obvious reason that she was asked to do the chat. Only Ever Yours earns it's space on my list of favourite books.
Freida (just to let you know, in the book, no name is capitalised and I'll come onto that later) is in the school in a brand new society of Zones. Girls are no longer created naturally, they are designed. They are designed to be perfect. Designed to conform to a society's ideals on what they should be. And they go through from their 4th birthday to their last day of being 16th (birthdays known as design dates, obviously) and the school they are at for that amount of time prepares them for life in one of the three thirds. One option is to become a companion: provide sons for the man who chooses you and then get executed when you hit 40. One option is to become a chastity: a teacher who works at the school who never leaves and grows old watching younger girls come in to replace you. The final option is to become a concubine. And that is basically becoming a prostitute. The worst part? You have next to no choice in what you become.
I loved this book. And when I say I loved this book, I mean it.
I said in the above that I'd come onto the fact that Freida in the book is written as freida, non- capitalised. And I have a huge point to make about this book.
Only Ever Yours is similar to The Jewel by Amy Ewing. It's similar to a lot of dystopian novels. The thing that defines it are the challenges that it provides to your views. Only Ever Yours forces you to step back and reassess your views on feminism. The reason I think the names aren't capitalised? It's because women were denied their own identity in this book. Women were told what to be and do by men, and this is something that's never been discussed before in such detail by a book. This is truly a book to be reckoned with.
The book explores other issues such as the fact that love is denied. You are not allowed love, which is similar to what I've heard about Delirium by Lauren Oliver.
Whilst the ideals explored in this book don't sound too realistic, they certainly are. Think about the ideals presented: must look pretty, nobody likes fat girls. Before you dismiss them as untrue, think of the stereotypes.
O'Neill has written a book which makes you step back and realise how broken our society really is with our attitudes to women. We're nearly there. But we still have a way to go.
This is not a book for the faint of heart, simply because of the issues presented. But this book has been nominated for the YA Book Prize 2015, and I wholeheartedly believe that it deserves it. I just wish that there was more of this book to read.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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