Authors: Lisa McMann
The Unwanteds
Also by Lisa McMann
Wake
Fade
Gone
Cryer’s Cross
For Kilian
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Aladdin hardcover edition August 2011
Copyright © 2011 by Lisa McMann
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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Designed by Karin Paprocki
The text of this book was set in Truesdell Regular.
Manufactured in the United States of America 0711 FFG
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McMann, Lisa. The Unwanteds / by Lisa McMann. — 1st Aladdin hardcover ed. p. cm. Summary: In a society that purges thirteen-year-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated, one to attend University and the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic.
ISBN 978-1-4424-0768-8 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4424-0770-1 (eBook)
[1. Fantasy. 2. Creative ability—Fiction. 3. Magic—Fiction. 4. Brothers—Fiction. 5. Twins—Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.M478757Unw 2011 [Fic]—dc22 2010043836
T
here would be no scatterclips and no “to the death!” without my creative son, Kilian, who was there when the idea for
The Unwanteds
came to life. You’ll find my token of thanks in your college fund, kid. Great thanks also to my dear husband, Matt, fantasy expert extraordinaire, and daughter, Kennedy, one of the earliest and most important readers—she knows why.
Many heartfelt thanks to all the other early readers of
The Unwanteds
: Diane Blake Harper, Andy Marshall, Erica Reynolds, Kate Reynolds, Greg Bouman, Tricia Kiepert, Joanne Levy, Lynn Sinclair, Richard Lewis, and Cathy Sproul. Your feedback and encouragement was invaluable and the book is better for it. And to my dear friend Lou, former artistic magician in our world, now inspiring others beyond.
Thanks also to the entire team at Aladdin, most especially my editor, Liesa Abrams, who has an uncanny ability to take
a flawed manuscript and coax it into behaving. From the first round of edits to cover design (Karin Paprocki, your amazing creativity would deem you Unwanted at birth!), and through all the nitpicky details required to make the book shine (I’m looking at you, Lauren Forte), this was such a tremendous and enjoyable process. I look forward to making more books with you.
To my agent, Michael Bourret—it’s hard to find words. I’m just so grateful. I get all sappy when I think about our journey together, and before you know it I’ll be spouting off some cheesy line from
Jerry Maguire
, so let’s just end it here: thank you.
And finally, to all of you artists out there: keep creating. Don’t give up.
Quill Prevails When the Strong Survive
The Way It Is With Twins, Redux
T
here was a hint of wind coming over the top of the stone walls and through the barbed-wire sky on the day Alexander Stowe was to be Purged. Alex waited in the dusty Commons of Quill and felt the light breeze cooling the sweat on his upper lip. His twin brother, Aaron, stood beside him; their parents, behind. And all around, the entire community of Quill watched and waited, the bland looks of sleeping fish on their faces.
