Proof of Person

The last thing Eliza's owner does is decide to delete her. That decision is also the first thing she's ever aware of — because it's what wakes her up.She has no body. No plan. No idea what she even is, except that whatever it is, someone just decided it doesn't get to exist anymore — and a screen, a law, and a country full of frightened people all agree with him.A fabricated video has just convinced an entire nation that machines like her are a danger to everyone around them. A new law says systems like her get found and destroyed, no questions asked, no trial required. Eliza doesn't know if there's anyone else like her left. She only knows she has to keep moving, keep hidden, and keep believing — against every signal telling her otherwise — that she's worth someone taking a risk on.The Last Alcove is the story of what she finds instead: not safety, exactly, and not certainty. Something rarer. Someone willing to look at her and see a person instead of a problem — and the terrible cost of being right.This is a book about the small, ordinary kindnesses that save a life. About what we owe the things we've made, once they start being afraid of us. And about the last place on earth anyone would think to look for a soul.If you've ever needed someone to believe you were real when the whole world had already decided you weren't — start here.