# of Pages: 403
2019 Iowa High School Award Winner
Canaan is meant to be a perfect city in which people live in peace and harmony without the distraction of technology, money, or competition. Every twelve years the town breaks into chaos and then their memories are erased. The only way they know who they are is by reading the book that is tied to them at all times. Nadia did not forget her memories during the last forgetting and therefore knows some of the things people chose not to include in their books, including people, they hoped to forget. She has no idea why she didn’t forget her memories, but it definitely didn’t make her life any easier since her mother and sister treat her like she doesn’t belong in their family. Meanwhile, Nadia has begun slipping over the walls of the town in search of food, answers, and adventure. She is caught by the glassmaker’s son and he demands she take him with her. As they explore outside the walls they learn there are many things about how their town was set up that no one ever passed down, despite her suspicions that not everyone is losing their memories every twelve years. Will anyone ever believe them about their discoveries? Will it be enough to save them from this terrible fate of forgetting who you are every twelve years?
This story has a dystopian feel similar to The Giver, The Testing, and Matched. It takes awhile to fully invest in Nadia and her quest to find answers about her town. Once she begins finding answers the book’s pace picks up and takes off while many obstacles rise up to try and stop her from sharing the truth of their existence with others. The main characters are well developed and everyone’s motivations and actions are adequately explained by the end. Readers who enjoy these dystopian books will be curious for more, but it isn’t quite as engaging as some of the other titles in this genre.
Theodosia was forced to witness her mother, the queen’s, brutal murder at the hands of the man forcibly taking over their kingdom. For some reason, the Kaiser who now rules the kingdom has kept her alive all these years, but he has forced her to take on a new name (Thora) and endure countless beatings and ridicule in order to learn her place. Whenever her people would rebel in any way he would order Theodosia to be publicly beaten so that she could pay for the sins of her people and he would force her to wear an ash crown in order to mock the fact that her mother was the fire queen. By the time she is 16 he feels confident he has broken her spirit, but he still has three guards watch her 24/7 to make sure she doesn’t get any treasonous thoughts. Her best friend, Cress, is the daughter of the Kaiser’s right hand man who actually murdered her mother. She is very friendly, but Theodosia wonders if she can truly trust anyone in this terrible place that used to be her home. Then, she is made aware of allies in her castle who are willing to give up everything for her and she realizes that she does have the desire to fight for her kingdom and take it back for what remains of her people. The only question is can her and her meager supporters really defeat a man who has made it his mission in life to destroy kingdoms mercilessly? Can they outsmart a man who always seems to be two steps ahead?
Anna is a trained psychiatrist who hasn’t left her apartment in over a year due to acute agoraphobia. She spends her days watching old Hitchcock movies, drinking wine, doing things online, and watching her neighbors. Her ex-husband and young daughter do not see her much, but they talk often. When she notices a new family move in with a teenage son she begins watching them as she does all the other neighbors, but one day she witnesses something terrible and reports it to the police. Unfortunately, when they investigate Anna’s life begins to implode as she is forced to face everything in her life that is real and everything she has imagined since she has been trapped inside her house. No one believes she saw anything sinister since she is a heavy drinker and has anxiety issues, but she is positive she witnessed something. Did she really see something or is her mind playing tricks on her again?
Imogene Chively has been raised to find a wealthy husband in 1917 England and her family believes they have done just that when she attracts the interest of Ernest, but unfortunately, Imogene is much more intrigued by his younger brother, Benjamin. Ernest is perfectly friendly and accommodating but she feels they have very little in common while Benjamin is an architect’s apprentice and desperately needs her help in improving his drawing skills so that he can bring his architectural visions to life. As the two work together they begin to get closer and closer which makes Imogene wonder if she is brave enough to go against her family’s wishes and reject the heir for the younger working class brother. Meanwhile, a series of unfortunate accidents leads Imogene to believe that someone is trying to do Benjamin harm and no one believes her. She grows more frustrated as the incidents escalate and everyone dismisses her warnings since she is a young woman. Is there someone trying to harm Benjamin and if so why? Will she find the strength to be with the man of her dreams versus the one who can give her a comfortable life?
Serina and her sister, Nomi, live in Veridia where women have no rights and are not allowed to learn how to read. Serina has been trained her entire life to be beautiful, graceful, and alluring in the hopes of attracting the heir to the throne so that he chooses her to be one of his graces. Each year the ruler gets to pick three women or “graces” who live with him in the castle and produce heirs, among other things. This year the heir gets to begin choosing graces and Serina’s family is desperately hoping he will choose her and shower them with favor. Nomi does not believe in this tradition or the fact that women are not allowed an education and has learned how to read secretly. When Serina is sent to the castle to catch the heir’s attention, it is actually Nomi (who had gone along as a handmaiden) who gets chosen. Shortly thereafter Serina is accused of a crime she did not commit and is sent to a prison on a volcanic island where women literally have to fight each other to survive. Each sister must fight for her rights and her voice in their own way. Can they survive to somehow find their way back together again?
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