The Grace Year is set in a society where young girls are thought to hold bewitching magic which is the source for mens lust and drives the older women to jealousy. At 16, the girls are sent away to fend for themselves and live in isolation from the rest of society in a remote camp in the wilderness for a whole year. This is known as the Grace Year, and is the period in which they must embrace and use up their seductive magic and then return home to become obedient women and know their place in the social hierarchy. The “lucky” ones go on to arranged marriages, whilst the others are assigned work. Escape is not an option, as if you do not return from your Grace Year, even if you were to die and your body is unaccounted for, then your family suffers in return.
Does this sound bleak? Throw in the fact that poachers lurk beyond the camp, waiting to capture and kill the girls to sell their body parts on the black market, and it becomes frightening. This year it is Tierney’s turn. The story follows her fight for survival; survival in both the landscape and survival among her own peers. Some reviews I have read liken The Grace Year as a cross between The Hunger Games and Lord of The Flies mixed with The Handmaid’s Tale, and I can definitely agree with them.
I finished this book a few days ago, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind! It has raised many questions and thoughts, and I think this book would be a great pick for a book group as there would be lots to discuss. This is because there are many choices Tierney has to make, and the reader may not always agree with all of them. What one reader may have wanted for her, another may disagree.
What made the book unique to some others that I’ve read recently is the use of symbolism and the language of flowers. This is used a lot throughout the book and a careful reader would be able to pick up on some clever foreshadowing. That is not to say that there weren’t any twists, I thought there were so many twists! Particularly in the last third of the book when I thought I’d figured something out, I hadn’t. I was kept on the edge of my seat by the end. I also found it was a lot more graphic than I was expecting for a book labelled as YA because it doesn’t hold back on the gore.
I liked Kim’s writing style in The Grace Year and the first person perspective makes it easy to follow and know what Tierney is feeling. The description is excellent and builds a picture in your mind so you can imagine all the settings and place yourself there. It’s definitely not overdone though as the story keeps flowing. Once you are past the introduction and the Grace Year is underway, this is when the book gets really good. The writing manages to evoke a feeling of tension in the right places. Although there are times when it slows, I didn’t feel like the plot went off course at any point. There are a few time jumps though which some readers may not like and wish for more explanation, but as the story takes place across a year it is necessary to have these gaps.
The book explores a women’s role in society and the patriarchy. There is definitely a feminist feel to the story, and it is about girls and their choices (and the choices made for them). The Grace Year divides the girls when it should bring them together, and that’s what I feel the author was trying to do through Tierney. Does she do what’s right for herself or does she do what’s right for the group? When is it okay to lie? At what point do you tell the truth? The ending was very thought-provoking for me although this is hard to discuss whilst remaining spoiler free!
I liked The Grace Year so much because I think it had most things I like in books. It had characters to root for, a surprise love interest, a touch of the unknown and mysterious, and an ending that left me thinking, but not wanting. The particular bits I loved most would give away plot points so I guess you’ll have to read it and discover them for yourself!
I would recommend this to fans of The Hunger Games, but I would also think anyone who enjoys a bit of rebellion and girl power would enjoy it. I would like any feminist to pick it up, as their opinion on Tierney’s choices and how other characters behaved may well differ to mine, but I think that’s the beauty of The Grace Year. It stays with you, makes you think, and would start a great discussion.
The Grace Year is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of October 8th 2019. Thank you to NetGalley who provided me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
Will you be reading The Grace Year? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.
Girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, 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 their chance to grab one of the girls in order to make their 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.
