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Title details for The Grace Year by Kim Liggett - Wait list

The Grace Year

A Novel

by Kim Liggett
Emily Shaffer
Audiobook
0 of 3 copies available
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0 of 3 copies available

"Emily Shaffer delivers a dynamic performance of this dystopian audiobook... She masterfully connects listeners to the characters' emotions, creating passionate and realistic performances." — AudioFile Magazine
This program includes a bonus conversation with the author.

A speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid's Tale and The Power.
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.
Praise for The Grace Year:

"A visceral, darkly haunting fever dream of a novel and an absolute page-turner." – Libba Bray, New York Times bestselling author
"The Grace Year seethes with love and brutality, violence and hope. It is a remarkable and timely story of the bonds between women, the cost of breaking those bonds, and the courage it takes to defy a patriarchy intent on crushing feminine strength." — Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 8, 2019

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781250241245
      • File size: 337201 KB
      • Duration: 11:42:30

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 10, 2019
      Women are submissive, girls are pitted against each other, and misogyny is the governing principle in this heavy-handed mash-up of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Hunger Games, and Lord of the Flies. Clever narrator Tierney James lives in a community where men hold absolute power over women, who greatly outnumber them; a woman’s only value is as a wife, unmarried women are sent to workhouses and fields, and punishments (hanging, sexual slavery) are doled out on a whim. When young women turn 16, they embark on their Grace Year—banishment to an isolated compound to purify themselves of their “magic” before returning to forced marriage or work. As Tierney begins her Grace Year, she and the others must survive with few resources while poachers prowl the compound’s perimeter, hoping to rape and dismember captured girls (they’ll bottle and later sell their parts, which are believed to possess magical, medicinal powers). After Tierney is banished from the group by a cruel ringleader, she falls for a kindhearted poacher, whose interest in her threatens his position. Though the prose is evocative and the pacing well done, gratuitous violence and flimsy characters eclipse what seems like intended commentary on women’s perpetuation of misogyny. Ultimately, the many malignant forces at work in this bloody, over-the-top novel fail to become more than the sum of their parts. Ages 14–up. Agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary & Media.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Emily Shaffer delivers a dynamic performance of this dystopian audiobook for young adults. On their sixteenth birthday, girls like Tierney are banished to the wilderness for a year to rid themselves of their magical skills so they can return purified and ready for marriage. Shaffer uses a variety of tones, accents, and pitches to portray a large cast of characters. She masterfully connects listeners to the characters' emotions, creating passionate and realistic performances. Shaffer's low and husky voice illuminates the tenacity and violence in a story that asks girls to decide who their real enemy is--each other, or the society that reared them. A brief interview with the author follows, offering insight on the inspiration for the story. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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