The Grace Year: A Novel

Written by Kim Liggett

Narrated by Emily Shaffer

"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

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Oct 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781250241245

Kim Liggett

Kim Liggett is the New York Times and International bestselling author of The Grace Year, a Target, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million Book Club Pick, along with Amazon Editor's Young Adult Book of the Year for 2019, and winner of the 2020 Nous a Libre Prize for Young Adult Literature. Published in over twenty languages and counting, The Grace Year continues to captivate readers of all ages from around the globe. Also an acclaimed horror writer, she is the author of The Last Harvest, winner of the 2018 Bram Stoker Award for Young Adult Literature, The Unfortunates, a YALSA quick pick for reluctant readers, and the Blood and Salt Duology. Originally from the rural midwest and a proud New Yorker for over twenty years, Liggett now resides in Los Angeles in a house covered with red flowers, where she happily tends to her hummingbird army.

Reviews for The Grace Year

[Ashley Nelson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was one of the best books I have read this year. Easily.

I very highly recommend listening to the audio. The narrator does an excellent job and has just the right amount of vocal fry in all the right spots to add to the words.

This is the perfect horrifying possibility of a dystopian tale. The men are in control and the Grace Year girls have to leave to get rid of their magic. Except, the magic doesn't actually exist, the water is poisoned, and the girls all turn on each other based on social standings and choices made by the men before they left.

What a wild ride of an exploration of the dynamics between women, how men turn women on each other, how men try to control the women in their vicinity.

It was heart breaking, inspirational, maddening, and ridiculous in the way that the social dynamics played out because it was all too close to real.

"WE ALL PLAY A PART ON THIS EARTH, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, AND I INTEND TO PLAY MINE. "

"IT FEELS LIKE FREEDOM, BUT WE KNOW THAT'S A LIE. THIS IS HOW THEY BREAK US. THEY TAKE AWAY OUR DIGNITY SO ANYTHING WE DO GET FEELS LIKE A GIFT."

Then we had that huge massive beautiful ending..."I DREAMED OF YOU MY WHOLE LIFE" and it took everything in me to not just bawl my eyes out. Wow. What an inspirational and beautiful way to end it. ♡

The interview at the end with the author was well worth the listen. She said something that hit me very hard and was an eye opener...this gem made me truly think because hot damn:

"Is there a quality in her that you dislike in yourself?" <------ whoa. Yeah. Actually. The issues I have had with other women most of the time have been when they have been too much like me in some way, specifically with a trait that I didn't like about myself.

[Kelly Herou · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is amazing. Everyone needs to read it, especially women.

[Elainea Kowasic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stop thinking about IF you should read this and just READ IT. The Grace Year was more than what I hoped it would be and I read it at the most perfect time in my life. Some books just speak directly to you and this book was that for me. I felt like I was the main character. I had lived her story. I think all women have and i wish we could all learn from literature like this that we need to lift each other up. Think of what women could do if we actually came together and stopped see each other as competition. What if we saw each other as sisters? Like how men says they are brothers. Maybe that’s our magic and we let society take it all away when we hit puberty.

I could go on and on but instead just read The Grace Year.

Beware the ending made me cry.

[celeste · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A little like lord of the flies but with girls, an entertaining, quick pace with a thorough ending which I appreciate

[Juana Lambert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic book about a girl who turns into a woman despite all the odds against her!! Loved it!!

[Debbie Carroll · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hunger Games meets Handmaids Tale. Beautiful arc, love the dangling ending...looking forward to the movie

[Reader H · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow!! The pace of the book was fantastic! It was dark, gruesome, but also hopeful .

[noam · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the best book ive ever read! it is such an important and incredible read, you have to pick it up!

[Lisa Silva · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully written novel that will move you throughout. Definitely should be on must read list!

[jori johnson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was hands down the BEST book I’ve gotten ahold of. The pain, happiness and anger oh my gosh. It’s just everything. 5 stars doesn’t do it justice.

[Erin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I could not stop reading this book. There are many dark elements in this novel but the ending will make you smile and have hope in OUR world. It’s a book that makes you want to call your best friend or go have a girls night. I love books that make you think about things long after you finish reading or listening.

[Shannon Ashley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I came across this book, I bought a physical copy as well. When I couldn't read it, I listened to it. In the car, at work, in the shower. I couldn't stop. All I could think about was the world this book created, so harrowing and sharp, and everything I want to do to change the world we live in.

[Alicia Norrie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was just okay. Kind of over the top/not really nuanced at all in the themes

[Jennifer Goddard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Keeps you on the edge all the way through! It’s two hours past my bedtime but I had to here the end! Definitely a great book for a book club because there is so much to discuss.

[Lolita Cornuet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An important dystopian with a lot of messages about sexism, I absolutely love it and the narrator is pretty good!

[brandy nygard · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book, I hope there is a second.

[Priscilla Dicembrino · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book. It was smart and well written.

[Chelle Hill · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Compelling, imaginative story that left me angry and hopeful in equal measure.

[Laurie Duppenthaler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. It was a little slow in the beginning.

[Abigail C · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.75 rounded up to a 4. It was good. It had a few minor flaws and was a tad predictable, but the ending caught me off guard a bit.

[Kendra Brown · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think the rules of their world should’ve been explained better. I felt like I had questions that could’ve been answered had their society and how it’s governed had been explained. The main character made a huge discovery she never shared with the girls, and that didn’t make sense to me. Overall though, I couldn’t put it down.

[Teresa Charlotte · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I’m not a quick reader and can usually only spend maybe an hour in an audiobook a day and I finished this book in a day. I could not stop reading.

[Vladislava · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I chose this book because the reviews were so good and now I'm lost. I mean, really? All these people really honestly thought that this story of a good-for-nothing girl who whined and pined all the way about how everything and everyone around her is not how she thinks it should be, doing nothing worthy at the time is a story worth reading?. To be honest, I'm quite tired of 16year girls who think they know better and who demand everyone should love them just because. The author said nothing new, just speculated on the "men abuse women" plot and did not even bother making the story interesting.What a waste if time

[lakshmixshree · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

a must read for women of any age- this story is gruesome, intense, and honest, above all else. reminiscent of the hunger games series, but with a more zoomed in storyline.

[Maria · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Pain, devastation, hope, heartbreak, accountability. A dystopian tale that may not be that dystopian after all. Would recommend.

[Alexis Bak Wetzel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A must read for every woman and every coming of age girl!