Bad Graces

At 16, twin sisters Violet and Everly Whitlock have moved from one foster home to another. Compared to her demure sibling, Violet has always been the “troubled child, the rebellious one”; even discovering her passion for poetry hasn’t helped her escape her reputation. To obtain a summer internship working on a movie adaptation of The Tempest in Alaska, Violet steals Everly’s identity and sets out on her own. But the yacht transporting Violet and several of the film’s stars drifts off course and shipwrecks near the coast of a mysterious island. Free from societal pressures and able to explore their true selves, Violet and her companions, including singer Paris Grace, actor sisters Effie and Miri Knight, Olympic gymnast Rosalind Torres, and influencer Celia Jones, confront their respective traumas and discover the island’s deepest secrets—such as the monster that lurks in the woods. The six racially diverse girls undergo terrifying yet empowering transformations as they struggle to survive and work to redefine themselves in this emotionally raw and sometimes brutal tale by McCauley (All the Dead Lie Down). “We’re teenage girls. We’ve all been prey before,” Effie says of their predicament, encapsulating a powerful story, though one that’s over too quickly. Ages 14–up. (June)