The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

Del Ray, 2019. ISBN: Del Ray, 2019. ISBN: 9781529100594. 404 pg., paperback.
No one speaks of the Grace Year. Little is known about what goes on during it, but every girl in the county knows one thing is certain. It will change them, if they survive it that is. The Grace Year by Kim Liggett is a feminist thriller centered on Tierney James, who lives in a village where all the girls are banished to the outskirts at sixteen for the entire year. To brave the wilderness and expel their magic is what they are told but really, they must also brave each other. Trust no one, not even yourself.
The Grace Year kept me grabbing the book wanting more and more whenever I had the chance. Kim wrote of such compelling characters that had such complex feelings and compulsions of their own that I wasn't able to tell what was going to happen next. Kim also described Tierney James well: she is a strong minded, logical yet rebellious girl coming into her womanhood and after following the rules of the county for all of her life she still finds it hard to break free from it all, to finally be free of what she has been told is expected of her. Going against what has been told of her, going against the men who control her life, even going against the other women around her, Tierney faces it all with as much strength as she can muster. The question is: Will it be enough?
Kayla Raphael. 404 pg., paperback.
No one speaks of the Grace Year. Little is known about what goes on during it, but every girl in the county knows one thing is certain. It will change them, if they survive it that is. The Grace Year by Kim Liggett is a feminist thriller centered on Tierney James, who lives in a village where all the girls are banished to the outskirts at sixteen for the entire year. To brave the wilderness and expel their magic is what they are told but really, they must also brave each other. Trust no one, not even yourself.
The Grace Year kept me grabbing the book wanting more and more whenever I had the chance. Kim wrote of such compelling characters that had such complex feelings and compulsions of their own that I wasn't able to tell what was going to happen next. Kim also described Tierney James well: she is a strong minded, logical yet rebellious girl coming into her womanhood and after following the rules of the county for all of her life she still finds it hard to break free from it all, to finally be free of what she has been told is expected of her. Going against what has been told of her, going against the men who control her life, even going against the other women around her, Tierney faces it all with as much strength as she can muster. The question is: Will it be enough?
Kayla Raphael