DO NOT DOUBT - DO NOT QUESTION - DO NOT LOVE Aged seven, they took her from her parents. At eighteen, they will choose her profession. At twenty one, they will marry her to a stranger. At twenty three, they will grant her a single child. Lark Finisterre’s life under the benevolent Authority is perfect. Free of worries, free of choice, she knows that she is safe. She knows she should be happy. But she doesn’t know the truth. Lark does not remember Earth, but that has never stopped her dreaming of it. She was born in Icenii, a shielded colony on the planet Meer, light years away from the war ravaged home world of her ancestors, but like all citizens she has grown up with a hope one day to return. For all of her seventeen years she has followed the rules and precepts of the Authority, obedient and unquestioning in her loyalty. Until now. On the once peaceful colony, things are beginning to go wrong and when her best friend disappears Lark will find herself dragged into dangers she could never have imagined. For beneath Icenii’s perfection lies a terrible secret: At the heart of its peace, a terrible lie. With the help of Ander, a mysterious survivor shipped from Earth, Lark will discover the truth – a truth that could set her free or destroy her world forever.

In a world full of lies, what do you do when the one person you truly believed in turns out to be the biggest lie of all? Lark has finally escaped the confines of her colony. But at what cost? Half her friends are missing and her former life is gone. Now she is trapped in the depths of the ocean, forced into hiding with a group of strangers and the boy who broke her heart. Only Dessa stands with Lark against the strange, new world in which they hide: The one person left who Lark can really trust. But Lark’s best friend faces demons of her own, memories of cruelties buried deep but not forgotten. Together they must find a way to overcome the past, survive the present, and above all find hope for the future. But then, of course, there are the Others …