• When seventeen-year-old Darius’s little sister is assigned an imminent death date by their city’s dystopian government, he intervenes to save her, fighting back against a corrupt medical system that abandons a vulnerable population in order to protect the rich and powerful.
• Explores the impact of deaths in the family on one’s mental health, the emotional turmoil and hormonal changes of adolescence, and the hard choices one must make when confronting societal injustices.
• A morally challenging dystopian with a family drama at its center, Defy is perfect for fans of Giver (Lois Lowry), the Hunger Games series (Suzanne Collins), the Matched series (Ally Condie), or the Delirium series (Lauren Oliver).
• Defy tackles timely topics of bioethics and the importance of health education for youths.
• Sara de Waard’s debut novel, White Lies, won the 2022 ETFO Writer's Award for Women. Her writing has been described as “powerful,” featuring “well-developed, relatable, imperfect” characters and writing that “elicit the full range of emotions in readers.”