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Informationen zum Autor Ally Condie is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Matched trilogy and co-author of the Darkdeep middle grade series. She is also the author of the novel Summerlost , an Edgar Award Finalist. A former English teacher, Ally lives with her family outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Ally has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is the founder and director of the nonprofit WriteOut Foundation. allycondie.com Twitter: @allycondie Klappentext "[A] superb dystopian romance." - The Wall Street Journal "Strong feminist ideals and impressive writing that's bound to captivate." - The Los Angeles Times In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die. Cassia has always trusted the Society's choices. And when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, she is certain he's the one-until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now she is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's ever known and a path no has dared to follow . . . between perfection and the truth. Look for the sequel, CROSSED, and the epic series finale, REACHED!CHAPTER 1 N ow that I’ve found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night? My wings aren’t white or feathered; they’re green, made of green silk, which shudders in the wind and bends when I move—first in a circle, then in a line, finally in a shape of my own invention. The black behind me doesn’t worry me; neither do the stars ahead. I smile at myself, at the foolishness of my imagination. People cannot fly, though before the Society, there were myths about those who could. I saw a painting of them once. White wings, blue sky, gold circles above their heads, eyes turned up in surprise as though they couldn’t believe what the artist had painted them doing, couldn’t believe that their feet didn’t touch the ground. Those stories weren’t true. I know that. But tonight, it’s easy to forget. The air train glides through the starry night so smoothly and my heart pounds so quickly that it feels as though I could soar into the sky at any moment. “What are you smiling about?” Xander wonders as I smooth the folds of my green silk dress down neat. “Everything,” I tell him, and it’s true. I’ve waited so long for this: for my Match Banquet. Where I’ll see, for the first time, the face of the boy who will be my Match. It will be the first time I hear his name. I can’t wait. As quickly as the air train moves, it still isn’t fast enough. It hushes through the night, its sound a background for the low rain of our parents’ voices, the lightning-quick beats of my heart. Perhaps Xander can hear my heart pounding, too, because he asks, “Are you nervous?” In the seat next to him, Xander’s older brother begins to tell my mother the story of his Match Banquet. It won’t be long now until Xander and I have our own stories to tell. “No,” I say. But Xander’s my best friend. He knows me too well. “You lie,” he teases. “You are nervous.” “Aren’t you?” “Not me. I’m ready.” He says it without hesitation, and I believe him. Xander is the kind of person who is sure about what he wants. “It doesn’t matter if you’re nervous, Cassia,” he says, gentle now. “Almost ninety-three percent of those attending their Match Banquet exhibit some signs of nervousness.” “Did you memorize all of the official Matching material?” “Almost,” Xander says, grinning. He holds his hands out as if to say, What did you expect? The gesture makes me laugh, and besides, I memorized all of the material, too. It’s easy to do when you read it so many times, when the decision is so important. “So you’re in the minority,” I say. “The seven percent who don’t show any nerves at all.” “Of course,” he agrees. “...
