Slaves in Eden

The year 2082. Cardan Gentle lives on an idyllic island, keeping himself in tiptop physical condition for 'subsumption' with his god, though he has no idea what this means. His whole world is himself, his 200 friends and the 'angels' who look after them. After some disturbing events he is rescued, or captured, his horizons are infinitely widened and his probable destiny revealed, to substitute in dangerous situations for the one from whom he was cloned.

But from his captor, agnostic theologian Bjorn Harting, doctors Pentalla and Aidan, “Captain Pugwash”, other clones, the enigmatic Peary Binoche and eventually his own “original”, he discovers his fate will be even more horrific. However, he learns he is also the key to unlock and destroy the whole system, though it nearly destroys him. The action moves from his island to Ardnamurchan in Scotland, Cragside in Northumberland and eventually to Ely, where his efforts are rewarded and his sufferings assuaged, in what is now ' our fragile, damaged yet hopeful world'.

A dystopian novel? Yes, but with hope.