Orphans Evade The Authorities

Written by Michelle Marcotte

It is 2034. Ten years have passed since the election of an authoritarian government split the United States in two, then tricked Alberta away from Canada. What remains is a region stripped of hope, watched by informants, and ruled by fear.

Most people have learned to keep their heads down.

Jeanne d’Arc and Nimoy Sanchez Champlain have not.

At sixteen, the twins are gifted violinists with a secret far more dangerous than their music. They are telepaths. And when their parents, outspoken opponents of the regime, are forced to flee with barely a moment to spare, Jeanne and Nimoy are left behind, determined to continue their parents’ work and bring them home.

What begins as survival becomes something larger. The twins start moving people across borders, slipping through checkpoints, outwitting a government that does not know who it is dealing with. With the unexpected cover of a not entirely legitimate British diplomat, they set their sights on the impossible: rescuing their parents in Budapest, Hungary.

But they are not the only ones running.

A young Ukrainian woman, a surrogate mother with no country left to return to, is fleeing a Russian invasion with two American babies in her arms. They carry secrets of their own, and their path is about to cross with Jeanne’s and Nimoy’s.

Orphans Evade The Authorities is a sweeping, fast-moving speculative fiction novel about the price of resistance, the stubbornness of love, and what teens are capable of when the adults around them fail to rise to the moment. Written for readers aged 15 to adult, it is the kind of story that begins on page one and does not let go.

Audiobook is read by read by Lynn Marie Brunk.

In Marcotte’s Orphans Evade the Authorities, extraordinary twins Jeanne d’Arc and Nimoy are a force to be reckoned with. Not only are they accomplished violinists, they are also highly skilled hackers with telepathic abilities, living in a divided near-future United States now known as USAC (“the self-declared country of United States and Canada”). Given the country’s authoritarian regime, being twins—and telepathic—means imprisonment if their abilities are discovered. Their parents are strong dissidents and have been detained by USAC, leaving the twins behind to fend for themselves. But they’re not alone in their efforts: coming to their aid is Countess Barrington Smythe-Jones, a British diplomat with world-wide connections and her Hungarian bodyguard, Lecso. Meanwhile, a parallel narrative follows Oksana Kovalenko, a young Ukrainian surrogate mother fleeing the Russian invasion while pregnant with twins.

Character development is brisk, with Jeanne and Nimoy maturing quickly—as expected for teens who are trying to survive a dangerous regime, rescue their parents, and help those who are less fortunate. As they become more focused on their goals, they continue their parents’ work with compassion—albeit sometimes recklessly—and learn crucial life lessons along the way. The Countess is a complex character who feels like both an ally and someone with ulterior motives, though she becomes more empathetic toward the twins’ situation as their quest increases in danger. Oksana’s arc is folded into the story with ease, revealing surprising connections to Jeanne and Nimoy that result in a satisfying denouement.

What holds the narrative back at times are the lengthy passages of telepathic communication; while integral to the plot, their lack of transition sacrifices tension. However, the vivid details describing the horrible conditions under the USAC government are heartbreaking, tragic, and will feel all-too-real for contemporary readers. Life in this chilling dystopia seems dismal, but Marcotte closes with a glimmer of hope for a brighter future.

Takeaway: International intrigue and moral determination collide in near-future America.

Great for fans of:Jill Tew’s The Dividing Sky, Rachel Delahaye’s Last Hope Highway.

- review from BookLife

Orphans Evade The Authorities

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