Solitaire

Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge.

Rena Segura lives on the corporate island of Ko. She is a Hope, a symbolic representation of Ko who on her 23rd birthday will take her place in the EarthGov. She is destined for greatness. But two months before she is set to take on this new role, her world begins to unravel. She finds out that she not a true Hope. The company and her parents have lied to her since her birth. Following her shocking discovery, she is convicted of an act of terrorism. She is sentenced to 40 years imprisonment.

In order to shorten her sentence, she agrees to be a part of a new virtual reality program experiment. She will be put into a virtual cell and time will be sped up so that she feels like she is there for 8 years. Her body, in real time, will be suspended in a medical chamber for 10 months. She can serve her time and still see her 24th birthday. 8 years in a small room with no outside interaction. No visitors, no guards, no one. Will she be able to handle it? Will she come out even remotely sane? When she does get out, will she be able to be around other people again? Will she even survive the fight with her innermost thoughts?

Eskridge, Kelley. (2001). Solitaire. New York: Harper Collins.