Summary

Chapter 1

When America gets the letter asking her to register for the Selection, she is not interested, although her family is filled with anticipation. If she were to become the next princess and future Queen, it would help the family out of their dire economic circumstances. As ‘Fives’—which is to say as the third-to-bottom caste in a strictly maintained social hierarchy—they are not well off and have known plenty of hungry times. The competition would give the family money, and the winters would not be so hard.

With her mother and father and her younger siblings, she watches the Report, where the government announces the Selection, and her siblings and parents all say she would be a great princess.

Chapter 2

America meets her boyfriend Aspen in the tree house, which is their refuge together. They kiss, but they do not go...