The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

 

Summary (from the publisher): A speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power. Optioned by Universal and Elizabeth Banks to be a major motion picture!

SURVIVE THE YEAR.

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.

Review: Sixteen-year-old Tierney James was raised in Garner County, where girls are raised believing they have power that grows as they approach womanhood. All girls in the county are banished during their sixteenth year to release their magic into the wild and so that they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all grace year girls return. While no returning women are allowed to speak of their grace year, it is clear that it is a brutal race to survivor, although it is unclear who the bigger threat is - the poachers waiting on the outskirts of their encampment to kill and sell their body parts on the black market or the other girls themselves. 

This was an intriguing piece of speculative fiction that reminded me somewhat of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale or of a female version of Lord of the Flies. This is a very patriarchal and harsh society where punishment is frequently death, where marriages are made against girls' will, and where women have little say in what happens to them or to their children. It is very surprising to me that this is marketed as young adult fiction because it is very violent and has very adult themes.  

There are lots of elements of this book that are left unresolved and not fully explained. It is never clear whether the book is set in the past or in the distant future. It is hinted that boys are rarely born into this society, but never explained why it is mostly daughters. It is also clear that Tierney's parents know more than they will say, and I couldn't help but question why they wouldn't secretly fill their daughter in for her own safety and a better chance at survival. The reader also never learns the full explanation for the poachers and why exactly the grace year girls' bodies are so highly prized. 

I found this very gripping and read it fairly feverishly night after night, desperate to see what would happen to Tierney, how the story would resolve, what the great explanation for it all would be. However, there were multiple plot points that fell flat for me. Namely, Tierney's interactions with the poacher, which were so compelling early on, were ultimately disappointing for me. I also was frustrated with the immense lack of explanation or resolution for multiple plot points. So much of this just felt like gratuitous violence and suffering, only for not much to change in this world by the end. I have very mixed feelings about this book after enjoying the read but yet being left feeling very unsatisfied with many aspects of it. 

Stars: 3.5