Unwind (novel)
![A vague humanoid form is visible, its left hand extended as if waving or motioning for help. The atmosphere is gloomy. A human fingerprint is overlaid on the image. Near the bottom of the image, the title "Unwind", along with the author's name, is stenciled in a thin font. Underneath the author's name reads the phrase "Author of Everlost".](/Images/godic/202502/19/UnwindBookCover1433.JPG")
Unwind is a 2007 science fiction novel by young adult literature author Neal Shusterman. It takes place in the United States, after a civil war somewhere in the near future. After a civil war, known as the Second Civil War or the Heartland War, was fought over abortion, a compromise was reached, allowing parents to sign an order for their children between the ages of 13 and 18 to be unwound—taken to "harvest camps" and having their body parts harvested for later use. The reasoning was that since 100% of the body had to be used, unwinds did not technically die because their individual body parts lived on. In addition to unwinding, parents who are unable to raise their children to age 13 for retroactive abortion have the option to "stork" their child by leaving it on another family's porch. If they don't get caught, the "storked" baby then becomes the other family's responsibility.