Stephen Lewis is bowled over by a York writer's debut teen novel.

TIME: the far future.

Place: a distant planet.

In the rubble of a war-ravaged city Toni V, a young man working in a demolition gang, discovers a hidden, handwritten diary. He's about to throw it away with all the other rubbish, but something makes him keep it.

Back in his dormitory, while his workmates are out, he starts reading. "This is the diary of Pelly-D," it begins. "It's totally secret, so if you're reading it I hate you already. The main people who aren't allowed to read it are: Mum and Dad (bcs they're a) too old & b) too my parents). Also my Big Bro - Gim D & and my Lil Sis - Carla D. They are ABSOLUTELY forbidden even to touch this notebook."

It's a brilliant way to begin what could well be one of the teen publishing hits of the year. York woman Lucy Adlington is best known for dressing up in period costumes to give 'hands-on' history sessions in local schools and museums with her company Century Adventures.

But she's always loved writing. Her 'big breakthrough', the 34-year-old jokes, came when she was invited to read some of her work aloud at school assembly as a young girl.

Since then, she's written lots of books. Sadly, no-one wanted to publish them - until The Diary Of Pelly-D.

It's easy to see what made Hodder snap this one up. Written in the breathless, racy style of a young teenager, Pelly's diaries just keep you reading - alongside Toni V. Pelly is young, rich, pretty, spoiled and full of sass. Like any other 15-year-old girl she's obsessed with clothes, shopping and boys. When she spots a good-looking hunk of a new boy you can almost see the sizzling look she throws at him. "Be still my trembling fingers..." she writes. "I've just seen the most offworld guy with the sweetest soft eyes and the best washboard abs in school history. When did HE sign up to Saint-Antel's High, & why wasn't I informed?!"

Only gradually do you realise that this is a teen novel with a difference. A darker element begins to intrude into Pelly's comfortable world. A rival city has introduced a new system of genetic classification - with people coded as red, green or blue depending on their DNA. Almost imperceptibly, the system begins to spread to Pelly's own home town. Greens are bottom of the pile, and ever-so-slowly they start to find themselves being oppressed and excluded. Then, to her horror, Pelly discovers, on being tested, that she's a green too....

It turns out, this book is about genocide and ethnic cleansing. It's inspired by the holocaust - and in particular by an account Lucy read of diaries found in the 1950s, buried in milk cans at the site of the Warsaw Ghetto. They had been placed there by Jewish victims of the holocaust desperate for at least something of their lives to be remembered.

"The thought that that is all that's left of somebody's life is just so awful," Lucy says.

Despite the harrowing theme and almost unbearable ending, however, The Diary Of Pelly-D is hugely readable - and even fun.

Lucy manages to get away with giving Pelly a sassy, modern way of speaking because she has set the book in the distant future on a different planet. It gives an old theme a fresh twist - and Lucy has great fun with the science fiction theme, too. Pelly-D and her friends all have gills as well as lungs, and can breathe under water: the social focus of their life is the local Waterworld, an exclusive pool equipped with chutes and slides in which teenagers lounge and gossip.

Having been a teenager herself once, Lucy hasn't forgotten what teens like to read about, either. "It has to have snogging in," she says. "I remember what I liked to read, and it always had to have a good love interest."

But most of all, it is the character of Pelly herself that brings the book to life. For all her prattling and snobbishness at the beginning of the book, she's clearly got a good heart. "I love Pelly," Lucy says. "She's a good person, and I hope that comes through. I kept making a note to myself saying 'must make her more likeable'."

It seems to have worked. The first teenager to read Lucy's book - the publisher's daughter - was hooked from the first page. "She stayed up all night reading it when she was supposed to be studying for her exams," Lucy says. "That sounds promising!"

I'm sure there will be many teenagers who do exactly the same.

u The Diary Of Pelly-D by LJ Adlington was published this week by Hodder Children's Books, priced £5.99.

Updated: 08:54 Saturday, February 19, 2005