Alis

British author Rich's debut novel opens onto an unusually fraught scenario–and the tension only increases as the story develops. In the ironically named Freeborne, a strict religious community, 14-year-old Alis is told she must marry the 40-year-old minister: it is “the Maker's will.” Readers will feel her terror as she instinctively thinks about seeking help but pictures the nearby houses, “all dark at this time, shuttered against the winter cold.” Deciding to join her runaway brother in “the city,” Alis lands in disastrous circumstances, finds an ally (and romantic interest) and then indirectly costs him his life. Devastated, wary of bringing harm to anyone else, Alis returns to Freeborne—and the minister. The rich plot continues to thicken until Alis is put on trial for a crime she has not committed; the proceedings, the quasi-historical setting and the moral complexities of the themes may remind readers of The Crucible . Rich's sympathetic portrayal of Alis and her desperate struggle to exercise free will in a theocracy will have audiences firmly gripped. Ages 12–up. (Feb.)