Robert Heinlein - Friday

Robert Heinlein's novel Friday tells the story of a female "artificial person" named Friday, set in the not-too-distant future. Friday is employed by a private intelligence agency as a courier, often carrying valuable information in a pouch in her belly. She differs anatomically in being much stronger and faster than other humans. Since artifical humans are widely resented, much of the story deals with Friday's attempts to win against prejudice, along with her attempts to conceal her gifts from other humans. This occurs against a backdrop of general social collapse that is intended to represent the irreversible decline of [Western Civilization]?.

[ISBN 0345414004 (amazon.com, search)]