Our narrator is a novelist who has written a shocking thriller imagining a near future where terrifying decisions have to be made to protect a fragile healthcare system. The book receives lots of attention then the government passes a law forbidding fiction from being written, published or sold. All novels have to be handed in to be destroyed. The only books that are permitted are those which 'tell the truth'. 

An underworld, a resistance, springs up to try to keep telling stories to children, but it's at great risk to those who offer the service, by phone in a secret location. One boy will only speak to our novelist narrator. Who is he? What is his story?

And then there's a twist.

This is a fabulous read. A clever and gripping dystopian future, with challenging, stimulating themes to explore in terms of how we value novels and storytelling, and what is 'truth'. Brilliant!