Ten generations of clones, spaced 10 years apart, with 10 of each model in each generation: They are the Homo factus, the Made Men, cloned from the humans who founded Vispera 300 years ago with a vision to save their species from an apocalyptic plague. Now that there is no poverty, hunger or disease in Vispera, these clones live predictable lives from their births in embryotic tanks to their planned deaths at age 100.
Seventeen-year-old Althea-310 spends her days apprenticing as a Council recorder, participating in Pairing rituals and communing with her nine sisters, silently sharing thoughts and soothing hurt feelings through a psychic link. But one day, someone new appears in Vispera. Jack is a human, made in the lab for an experiment whose purpose is unknown to all but a few older clones. He can’t commune and doesn't understand the clones’ culture, and the clones can’t understand his asthma, his unpredictable emotions or his love of music.
While Jack tries to find his place in Vispera and Althea-310 starts to question the harmony she’s always known, larger issues come to light. The clones have been copied too many times and their genetic lines are beginning to weaken. Items keep disappearing from communal stores, and Samuel-299—Jack’s so-called father—finds defending Jack’s continued existence increasingly difficult. New revelations soon force Jack, Althea and Samuel to make difficult decisions about the future of their supposedly perfect home.
Fans of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World won’t want to miss Your One & Only.
