A breathtaking glimpse into our future from the acclaimed author of Darkwater.

I am not Delia Greene. I should not be here. Why haven't they come for me?

Alone in my room, I log onto the Wastelands, the data dump where anonymity is guaranteed, where people go to throw their unfilled hopes and dreams, their despair, their pain, their loneliness, a great tangle and mess of words that cannot be unravelled, and I start to tell this story. The names are changed. So are the locations. As for the rest? It is up to you to choose what you want to believe . . .

Special is a beautifully crafted and atmospheric YA novel set in the not-too-distant future, where corporations control everyone's lives from their DNA to their schooling and career. Where a Lotto Girl – designed from before birth to be Special in every way – can escape the slums and be given every opportunity to shine at an exclusive boarding school. Where the future is bright. Until it all goes wrong . . .