Rhine Ellery

Rhine Ellery is the sixteen-year-old protagonist of Lauren DeStefano's Chemical Garden trilogy — a girl living in a dystopian near-future America where a genetic virus causes all women to die at age twenty and all men at age twenty-five. When Rhine is kidnapped by Gatherers and sold as a polygamous bride to Linden Ashby, the wealthy son of a scientist obsessed with finding a cure, she is trapped in a gilded mansion that is as much a prison as a home, despite the genuine kindness of her husband.

Rhine's driving motivation throughout the trilogy is escape — back to the ruins of Manhattan where her twin brother Rowan is waiting for her, and away from the comfortable captivity of the Ashby estate. DeStefano writes her with a fierce independence that refuses to be softened by comfort, and with a clear-eyed understanding of the moral complexity of her situation: Linden is not a villain, but the system that enables him is.

The Chemical Garden trilogy explores reproductive autonomy, medical ethics, and the specific vulnerability of girls in a world where they are literally running out of time. DeStefano's world-building is detailed and internally consistent.

Begin with Wither (2011) and read all three in order.