When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
Remember The Scarlet Letter? This is a rewrite set in a dystopian future when church and state are no longer separate but co-mingled in all but a few holdout states. In this future those found guilty of a crime are Chromed. They are genetically altered so their skin color reflects their crime. Yellows have committed misdemeanors, blues are sexual predators and reds are murderers.
Hannah Payne committed murder in the eyes of the law when she had an abortion. She refused to give any information about the man who performed the procedure or the identity of the father. By withholding this information her sentence as a Chrome has been extended by six years to sixteen.
Reverand Dale is a charismatic religious leader who speaks for leniency at Hannah’s trial since she was a former member of his congregation. He is now in Washington D.C. serving in the highest religious position in the country. He was also the father of Hannah’s child.
All of this sound a little familiar? It’s a unique retelling where things don’t always go the way you suspect and character motivations aren’t always what they seem.
