Review by Booklist Review
Listen to your chaperone. That is the first rule in Stella's world in New America, where girls can't be alone in public, the school system only teaches girls how to be wives and mothers, and every girl is accompanied almost everywhere by a chaperone until she marries. All of these rules exist for the girls' own protection--those who don't follow the rules tend to disappear. When Stella's chaperone, Sister Helen, mysteriously passes away, Stella is immediately given a new one. Sister Laura is unusual; she leaves Stella alone in the library, encourages her to go jogging with her father, and even takes her for self-defense lessons. As high-school graduation approaches, Stella's father begins to push for her to spend Visitation (the only time a girl may be alone with a boy) with a constable named Joseph. Desperate to escape a forced marriage, Stella begins to discover that New America may have lied to everyone--there may be more to the world than the Minutemen controlling New America admit, and there may even be a way out. Stella is a compelling and relatable heroine trying to navigate the frightening world she lives in, and that world is rendered in mundane but terrifying detail. Hendrix's dystopian society is somewhat of a Handmaid's Tale for YAs and offers a dark world with a glimmer of hope.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this ominous dystopian future narrative, young women in New America must live by a conservative moral code and always be chaperoned until marriage; those who deviate from these expectations are either shunned or go missing. Though high school senior Stella Graham, 17, quietly chafes against these rules, she steadfastly lives by them under the watchful eye of her beloved chaperone, Sister Helen. But when Sister Helen dies suddenly and mysteriously, Stella begins to question the system she feels trapped in. Her new chaperone, Sister Laura, encourages Stella's curiosity by providing her with forbidden books and secretly teaching her self-defense. Bolstered by the new knowledge, Stella finds subtle ways to rebel in school and at home, but as the public investigation into Sister Helen's death draws the attention of seemingly omnipresent national political party the Minutemen, Stella finds herself watched more closely than ever. Stella's initial naivete about New America's history makes her revelations surrounding its dark past even more harrowing. This thrilling and evenly paced, dialogue-driven tale by Hendrix deftly explores issues of women's rights, class privilege, and oppression through a familiar yet impactful lens. Most characters cue as white. Ages 14--up. Agent: John Cusick, Folio Literary Management. (June)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A teenager coming of age in a patriarchal dystopian America discovers the way of life she's always known is not the only one possible. Seventeen-year-old Stella lives a privileged life in New America: She is beautiful, White, and the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the nation, which broke away from the part of the country they refer to as Old America. Despite her privilege, Stella's existence is sheltered and circumscribed by the rules that keep women in their place in her society; since she turned 12 and got her first period, she has been under the care of Sister Helen, her beloved chaperone who supervises her at all times, ostensibly to protect her but really to indoctrinate her into her future role as a wife and mother. After Sister Helen dies under mysterious circumstances, she is assigned a replacement, Sister Laura, who encourages her to imagine a different future for herself. Before long, Stella is plotting her escape from New America, but she's determined to do more than just save herself. Overall, Stella's transformation feels stilted, with plot developments outpacing organic character growth. Stronger writing could have rendered her a more fully realized person whose responses to shocking events and later initiative and ability to effect change would feel more believable and cohesive. An unconvincing foray into a dystopian future. (reading list) (Dystopian. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
