Now, aged sixteen and in their final year, they expect to be selected as. Only ever yours by louise oneill and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Only ever yours by louise oneill includes spoilers. The hardest place to maintain my feminism is in a relationship with a straight man author louise oneill on her new novel, getting used to fame and why living with her. In order to be enjoyable, a novel has to have some hint of hope. Asking for it won book of the year at the irish book awards 2015 and stayed in the irish top ten fiction chart for over a year. Asking for it won book of the year at the irish book awards 2015 and. See all books authored by louise oneill, including only ever yours, and asking for it, and more on thriftbooks. When the girls are sixteen the inheritants come to the school to pick their favourite and if they arent chosen, the girls become concubines. Only ever yours by louise oneill us cover set in what appears to be a private school in a future europe, we see a world in which young women trained from birth to be beautiful, subservient, and always available for mens pleasure. So my no 1 read for 2014 was the gripping only ever yours by louise o neill.
Freida must fight for her future even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known. They are genetically modified and hatched in a school for the use of. Having spent a year in new york working for kate lanphear, the senior style director of elle magazine, she returned home to ireland to write her first novel. Upon returning to ireland in 2011, oneill began her first novel only ever yours, which was published in 2014. Im so bored of reading books that call themselves dystopian, when all they manage to show me is a bogstandard totalitarian government.
However, there is already a shortlist with 10 of the best uk ya books of 2014. Only ever yours tells the story of a world in which the use of birth control to maintain the perfect body has led to women being created rather than born naturally. I caught up with her to ask a little bit about it and here is what she had to tell me. Only ever yours louise oneill charlottereadsthings. Only ever yours by louise oneill seemed a good choice. But as the intensity of the final year takes hold, the pressure to be perfect mounts.
Only ever yours by louise oneill, 9781784294007, available at book. Sorry louise oneill, but i dont believe in portraying a dark world just for the sake of being thoughtprovoking. Louise oneill is the feminist powerhouse and outspoken voice for change whose novels only ever yours and asking for it helped to start important conversations about body image and consent. Buy only ever yours ya edition by louise oneill from waterstones today. Frieda and isabel are aged sixteen and they are waiting to be, hopefully, chosen as companions for boys their age who live out in the real world. Louise oneills young adult novel only ever yours is a satire about societys obsession with how women look and behave. I do not store information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze content performance through the use of cookies, which you can turn off at anytime by modifying your internet.
Since reading only ever yours, ive been thinking hard about books that explore grittier subject matters like body image and eating disorders but include. In this video i will be discussing sexual assault and eating disorders. Louise oneill is the author of the ya novel only ever yours. In a world in which baby girls are no longer born naturally, women are bred in schools, trained in the arts of pleasing men until they are ready for the outside world. Louise oneill books list of books by author louise oneill. Only ever yours by louise oneill freida and isabel have been best friends their whole lives. Only ever yours is a dystopian book about women and girls called eves. Louise oneill describes only ever yours as the handmaids tale meets mean girls. It is a dystopian world where girls are raised to be the perfect companions to men.
Goodreads amazon only ever yours was my first book of this genre, for the ya market. Buy only ever yours ya edition by louise oneill with free. The eves are ranked in order of beauty and behaviour and their ultimate function. Louise oneills second novel, asking for it, is due for release in september 2015. I n a world in which baby girls are no longer born naturally, women are bred in schools, trained in the arts of pleasing men until they are ready for the outside world. Louise oneills awardwinning feminist scifi ya novel, only ever yours.
In louise oneills world of only every yours women are no longer born naturally, girls called eves are raised in schools and trained in the arts of pleasing men until they come of age. In the face of all that success though, its author cant seem to stop apologising. The image shows the front cover for the adult edition of only ever yours. Only ever yours won newcomer of the year at the irish book awards and. Review only ever yours by louise oneill novelicious. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the school, they expect to be selected as companions wives to wealthy and powerful men. Only ever yours ya edition by louise oneill waterstones. I recently louise oneills two first novels back to back and i wanted to share my thoughts with you. Pitched on the front cover as a cross between the handmaids tale and mean girls, only ever yours is so much more than a story. I think the only similar style think ive read is volpone by ben jonson, and that was for my. Author louise oneill on her own sexual experiences. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the school, they expect to be selected as companions. Actually ill go further than that, it is the best dystopia that i have read since the hunger games, the pinnacle of all dystopia books for me.
Only ever yours louise oneill the beauty of literature. In a world in which baby girls are no longer born naturally, wom. Louise oneill, only ever yours detailing unpunctuated sentences mirroring a petty high school type drama of a rocky friendship, tremored by boys, between two teenage girls, the blurb of. The girls are put into schools where they are trained to believe that their looks and rankings will dictate their futures. The only thing oneill should feel sorry about is the reason she had to write the book to begin with, and she can hardly shoulder any blame for. Parents need to know that louise oneills only ever yours is a dystopian novel about a nearfuture world in which population decline has resulted in women being genetically engineered and trained from a young age to either produce male children as official wives or provide sexual companionship as concubines, and its worthy of comparison. It was one of the few books on the shortlist that i didnt already own or hadnt read, but it was one everyone was talking about. Only ever yours is available now, published by quercus. I do not share personal information with thirdparties and wordpress does not allow me access to your email addresses in order to protect your privacy. Only ever yours by louise oneill in a dystopian future world, women are created in order to meet the needs of men. I purchased only ever yours after it won the ya book prize.
I know that this novel had its inspiration in your personal experiences would you tell us a little bit about that. Where women are created for the pleasure of men, beauty is the first duty of every girl. After graduating with a ba in english studies at trinity college dublin, she went on to complete a postgrad in fashion buying at dit. Louise oneills only ever yours is a biting look at our cultural attitudes towards and treatment of women. The alternative life as a concubine is too horrible to contemplate. Uk publishing has a fierce new feminist voice in louise oneill one that deserves to be heard by as many people as possible. In louise oneills powerful world, females are manufactured to satisfy the needs of the males, to either provide them with children or satisfy their sexual desires.