This month’s FYA Book Club selection is The Grace Year by Kim Liggett. Unfortunately, this dystopian book has been feeling more timely than ever since it came out in 2019. Some parts felt especially tough to reread, but this is not the time to stay complacent.
Check out the discussion questions below! (Slight spoilers ahead.)
P.S. If you’ve already read the book, feel free to add any other discussion questions of your own in the comments!
Content Warning
Depictions of violence towards women, mentions of cannibalism.
Icebreaker
Real talk: Would you survive the Grace Year?
Questions
1. Do you think the book’s concept of a grace year, the secrecy surrounding it, and the way the women were treated—and treated each other—was believable?
2. It’s not clearly depicted when and where this book is set. There are hints of “real world” things like lithographs and Vikings, but no modern technology. Where do you think this story fits in with our world?
3. Some compare the girls’ grace year to The Lord of the Flies. Do you agree? What did you think of the girls’ descent into “madness” during their grace year? Were you more understanding of their actions after learning they were being poisoned by the well? (And did you figure it out before Tierney?)
4. Did your thoughts on the character of Kiersten change at all throughout the book?
5. What did you think of Tierney’s relationship with poacher Ryker? What about Michael?
6. “Your eyes are open, but you see nothing,” Tierney’s mom tells her before her grace year. When she returns radically changed, she sees a new significance in many little moments she dismissed before, and has a deeper understanding of her family members and community. What did you think of the women’s quiet rebellion (and Tierney’s mom being the leader?!)? Do you think the grace year will ever be eradicated with it being so ingrained in the fabric of their community?
7. Tierney delivers her daughter, Grace, the girl who has been haunting her dreams, at the end of the novel, and one of the last lines seem purposefully ambiguous: “As I close my eyes and let out my next endless breath, I find myself walking in the wood, weightless, free.” Do you think Tierney lives or dies after childbirth? Did the ending work for you?
8. Would you care to read a sequel if one was ever made?
