Fearless (Lott novel)
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| Author | Tim Lott |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Published | Walker Books |
| Media type | Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
| Pages | 267 |
| ISBN | 978-1-4063-0862-4 |
Fearless is a 2007 young adult science fiction novel by British author Tim Lott. The novel follows the life of Little Fearless as she rebels against the tyrannical "Controller" in the City Community Faith boarding school.
Plot
Little Fearless lives in the City Community Faith School, also known as the Institute, where girls are forced to work under the rule of the Controller. This is a harsh task as the controller is ruthless. All the residents belong to one of three groups: the Z-Girls, who are the newest arrivals and younger residents and are the most badly treated; the Y-Girls, who have been there longer and are generally older; and the X-Girls, the Controller's lackeys.
Taken from her home, Little Fearless arrives at the Institute where everyone receives nicknames according to their personality traits. L.F. has four friends, Beauty, Tattle, Soapdish and Stargazer. She constantly rebels against the Controller and the X-Girls. The novel starts when she is demoted to Z rank at the start of the novel. She learns from the Controller that her biological mother died a long time ago, and that the woman who raised her was just an adoptive mother. Little Fearless decides to try to escape, and tricks Stench, the X-girl who looks after the school's rubbish, into letting her leave in the rubbish truck, which was an exceedingly dangerous feat.
In the city, she tries to tell people what actually happens at the school, but no one will listen to her, even when she collected thousands of teardrops, a lock of hair etc. She keeps leaving in the night and returning the next day, and the Controller punishes all the Y and Z girls, hoping to find out who is sneaking out. The punishments involve shaving their heads and no food). Eventually, he finds out it is Little Fearless from Stargazer ( who is concerned and distraught for L.F), and he locks her away in the Pit, revealing that he is Oroborous, the freedom fighter, and that he had been captured and made to run the Institute.
Little Fearless is forgotten, and her friends (apart from Stargazer) are promoted to X-Girls. Stargazer continues to remind people of Little Fearless, but starts to wonder if she had just imagined her. She finds Stench one day, who reveals that L.F. is alive, and being kept in the Pit under the Discipline Block. They hatch a plan to rescue her when the City Boss visits the Institute.
When they go to get her, L.F. is so weak she is barely living. Stargazer sees three angels, and they take L.F., ending her life. Stargazer then carries Little Fearless's body back outside, demanding that everyone remembers her, and what she did. The three people she met when she escaped remember her, and the crowd begins to riot. The Control Block is set alight, and the entire Institute begins to burn. Stench carries Little Fearless away, as Stargazer tells her there is something she needs to do.
Stargazer finds the Controller, and tells him that he needs to leave, but he refuses. She asks why Little Fearless survived in the Pit, and he removes his tinted glasses, revealing his eyes, which are the same as Little Fearless's, one dark brown and one light blue. Stench finds them, and carries Stargazer away, leaving the Controller/Oroborous to die in the fire.
Sometime later, Stargazer, Lila (Stench), Jamila (Beauty), Maya (Soapdish) and Abigail (Tattle) are on a beach, with Little Fearless's adoptive mother, Mary (who was Oroborous's sister). The six of them send white roses out into the ocean to honour Little Fearless's memory, and Stargazer tells them what their friend's real name was: Hero