Unauthorized Bread — Cory Doctorow

New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow''s Unauthorized Bread-a novella about immigration, the toxicity of economic and technological stratification, and fighting against all odds to survive and prosper

From the outside, the Boston-based subsidized apartments reserved for low-income tenants in a new technologically-advanced building seem like a dream come true. But soon the program''s newest recipients, Salima-a young woman recently released from a refugee camp in Arizona-and her friends with similiar backgrounds, discover themselves living in a technologically fortified parallel universe.

Not only are the elevators digitally programmed to economically discriminate against the building''s tenants (the low-income residents can only use the elevators if they''re not occupied by anyone from the wealthy side of the building), but the apartments'' appliances are designed to extract revenue. The fridge won''t chill unauthorized groceries. The toaster won''t toast unauthorized bread.

When hedge funds tank the companies behind these electronic ""conveniences,"" they stop working altogether. Salima then takes it upon herself to lead a dangerous jailbreaking underground, training a child army that liberates the building''s appliances, even those hated elevators. However, the stakes rise when the group finds themselves faced with the danger of losing everything they''ve built and being deported back to their war-torn countries.