The Grace Year

【我是天生有罪的魔女嗎，還是被人們詛咒的性別？】

在加納城，女孩們從小就被訓誡，只要當青春期來臨，她們便會處於從少女蛻變成女人的半熟模糊交界，擁有誘惑成年男性犯罪、使善妒女人瘋狂的力量，並確信罪魁禍首就是此時少女們的皮膚會散發出濃烈的催情素。因此只要女孩們滿16歲，便要迎接屬於她們的"The Grace Year"，按照傳統將被放逐出城一年，讓她們能沐浴在野外、洗淨魔女般的罪惡氣息，以便少女們能夠歸來純潔之身並奉獻給神聖的婚姻。

然而即將滿16歲的蒂爾尼知道，並非每個女孩都能歷劫歸來，除了需要在險峻的荒野環境中求生以外，這樣以訛傳訛、頑冥不靈的習俗，早就吸引了利慾薰心的人口販子躲在密林間準備獵捕年輕的軀體，還要小心防備一切猜忌的源頭－少女與女人之間扭曲又矛盾的嫌隙，即便她只想保持天真地和其他女孩們當朋友、和平共處，但這卻可能是最致命的險棋。

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.