The Grace Year

The Grace Year is a story that takes place in a world where women and girls are forced into subservience. Girls are accused of having magic that seduces men, so when they turn 16, they’re banished away for a year to a remote location. The survivors who return at the end of the year are considered purified and ready for arranged marriages to men and boys in the village.

Because no one speaks of what happens during the year the girls are gone, many speculate about all the terrible threats that happen there and what happens to the girls that don’t return. The reader quickly learns that the threats in the wild aren’t as dangerous as the girls are to themselves and each other.

The Grace Year has everything: a love story, mystery, violence, and conspiracy. It’s a feminist novel that highlights the violence and adultification forced onto young girls, and the brutality they inflict on each other as a result.

If a young-adult novel with a mixture of themes from The Handmaid’s Tale and Lord of the Flies sounds interesting to you, The Grace Year might be a good fit for you.