Luke Garner (Lee Grant)

Luke Garner is a twelve-year-boy who, prior to the start of the novel, spent his entire life hiding on his parents’ farm. Luke is his parents’ third son and because of the Government’s Population Law, which states that couples can only have two children, is an illegal child who will be executed if he is found. As the novel opens Luke is given a false ID and brought to live at Hendricks School for Boys under the name ‘Lee Grant’ by Mr. Talbot, the father of Luke’s dead friend Jen, after it becomes unsafe for him to remain on the farm. Having never lived anywhere other than the farm or met anyone other than his family, Jen, and Mr. Talbot, Luke is overwhelmed by life at Hendricks. No one is willing to help him find out what classes he should be in, the...