The Harvesting

Twenty years ago scientists made some remarkable discoveries with genetics and the ability to perfect the babies we gave birth to.

Ten years ago the governments of the world made a hard choice, earth or people.

Nine weeks ago the choices they made came full circle.

Fourteen days ago the truth of their mutations leaked out into the borderlands and other areas.

Yesterday the worst thing they ever made learned about what she was.

Today she's coming for them and she knows about the strengths they gave her.

Tomorrow she plans on destroying everything.

She plans on starting with her own creator. Her own father.

"It's us and them, Em. There are no regular people anymore."

Ten years ago when the world ended she ran for her life.

Five weeks ago the world she'd hidden from came knocking on the door of her secluded cabin.

Ten days ago she found salvation hiding amongst the dead.

Yesterday she went back for the living.

Today she wonders if she will live to see tomorrow.

What do you do when the world you were born to is gone?

Where do you hide when even your own body isn't safe?


Emma ran when her daddy told her to. She hid like he said she should. He was the first person she turned her back on. The first one she let die.
Ten years has gone by and she still lives by the simple rules he taught her when she was nine years old.

"Don't help anyone. Don't go where other people are unless you have to. Trust no one. Always pull the trigger."

Until one night she hears the worst sound in the world, a knock. A simple, timid knock, on the door to her cabin.
Only the voice of the brave little girl, ready to die for her brother, persuades Emma to open the door.
As her fingers turn the lock, she has a terrible feeling she will regret her decision.
But even as regret fills her world, so do love and companionship. Things she never imagined she would ever have again.

Everything comes at a cost, you decide what you'll pay.
 

Mature Readers Recommended

Ninety-five days, and then I’ll be safe.

I wonder whether the procedure will hurt.

I want to get it over with.

It’s hard to be patient.

It’s hard not to be afraid while I’m still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn’t touched me yet.

Still, I worry.

They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness.

The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.

Lauren Oliver astonished readers with her stunning debut, Before I Fall. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it “raw, emotional, and, at times, beautiful. An end as brave as it is heartbreaking.” Her much-awaited second novel fulfills her promise as an exceptionally talented and versatile writer.