Title: I Am Not a Number
Author: Lisa Heathfield
Genre: Dystopia YA
Format: Paperback
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Egmont UK Ltd
Publication Date: 27th June 2019
My Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Goodreads | Storygraph
Synopsis:
The powerful and heart-wrenching new novel from Lisa Heathfield, award-winning author of Seed and Paper Butterflies. Perfect for fans of Sarah Crossan, Louise O’Neill and Lisa Williamson.
The Traditionals have been voted to lead the country, winning people over with talks of healing a broken society, of stronger families and safer streets. They promised a happier future for everyone. They didn’t promise this.
When Ruby is swept up with protesters from the opposition, her life is changed forever. Locked in a prison camp far from home and with her belongings taken from her, she’s now known by the number 276. With horror escalating in the camp, Ruby knows that she has to get her family out – and let the world know what’s happening.
Set in the present day, I Am Not A Number is a powerful and timely book for both young adults and adults alike.
My Review:
TW: concentration camp, racism, homophobia, conversion therapy, death of minors, death
This book! It hits you where it hurts and keeps on hitting.
When I first picked the novel up, I didn’t read the blurb, I was attracted to the cover, and so I thought it was about WW2. It’s not, but it gives you a whole new perspective on the holocaust. It’s a novel about history repeating itself. It’s a modern telling of the horrors that they went through, and it makes it feel more real than ever. Heathfield carefully captures the transition from the labour camp to something much more sinister. It’s a gradual build towards the horrific, that keeps you hooked.
Our narrator is 15-year-old Ruby who was taken from her home in the middle of the night and thrust into the camp. Her rights were stripped from her. She is no longer a person; she is a number. Heathfield doesn’t shy away from showing you how easy it is to alter people’s thinking; especially children. You see this through Ruby’s sister, who despite witnessing the horrors of the camp begins to believe in the message the leaders of the Traditionalist party are sprouting.
The book was hard to read at times, but it takes you on a journey and is a stark reminder that history must never ever repeat itself. Curl up on your sofa with a box of tissues because this story deserves to be read.
