BOOK ONE - COMING SOON
Two worlds.
One truth.
Astra lives in the Canopy — a gleaming city where the powerful live long, healthy, luxurious lives. She never questions where that longevity comes from. Until she crosses into the Donor Zone.
What she finds there will destroy everything she thought she knew about her world, her family and herself.
”Each citizen must contribute to society. If a citizen fails to find a suitable objective, one will be assigned.
THE BLOOD LAWS - Section 2, Paragraph 1
A beautiful society steeped in blood.
Above the city, the privileged live long, healthy lives sustained by plasma drawn from the young. Few ask where it comes from. It’s easier to look away.
The Canopy Wealth. Longevity. Silence.
The Donor Zone Youth. Submission. Surrender.
Far away, out of sight, the young give what the old require. Their vitality ebbing away with every donation. Until there is nothing left to give.
The Assembly Order. Narrative. Control.
Ruled by the Founder, the Assembly decides what is permitted, what is punished, and what is seldom spoken of at all.
This started with a real experiment
In 1957, a scientist at Cornell University stitched two mice together. One was old. One was young. Over several weeks their blood vessels merged, and as young blood flowed into the older mouse, something impossible began to happen. The old mouse started getting younger.
This led to a theory that has never quite gone away: that young blood could unlock the secrets of aging.
“Fantastic dystopian concept, full of complex characters. The detailed world is a triumph, and the story itself is compelling. A real page turner.”
Becca Barnes, Award-Winning Writer & Literary Prize Judge
“Little Mice creates a universe as rich and haunting as Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Fantastic Novel. I could not put it down. ”
Faith Shearin Author of Lost River 1918
FOR BOOK GROUPS AND CLASSROOMS
Questions worth arguing over
A reading group guide for Little Mice with discussion questions, debate starters, and classroom activities exploring the novel's most urgent themes.