The house of quiet

Seventeen-year-old Birdie blackmails a former employer to get a job as a maid at the House of Quiet in hopes of finding her missing younger sister, Magpie, whom Birdie believes may be captive there. The House of Quiet, an ominous mansion in the middle of a peat bog, is a treatment facility for those who've undergone an expensive and dangerous procedure that can awaken supernatural abilities such as future-sight and telepathy. Nothing about the House is as Birdie expects. Instead of being filled with the procedure's usual demographic--under-resourced youth "who'd waited years for an opportunity" to undergo the process--the House's residents seem to be strange aristocratic youth with powerful gifts, all being treated behind locked doors by a mysterious woman known as the House Wife. As Birdie searches for her sister, she becomes embroiled in a conspiracy that forces her to reevaluate her priorities and her knowledge of her country. White (the Camelot Rising trilogy) capably weaves alternating, dreamlike third-person perspectives and tantalizing hints of terrible secrets into an atmosphere of creeping dread. This gothic tale boasts hidden motivations, government propaganda, and forbidden longing to touch on issues of class consciousness and privilege. Birdie cues as white. Age 12--up. Agent: Michelle Wolfson, Wolfson Literary. (Sept.)

A girl seeks her sister at a facility for young people struggling with psychic abilities. Sixteen-year-old Birdie has been working since she was 10 so her family could afford a procedure that unlocks special abilities for her younger sister, Magpie. But when Magpie doesn't come home, Birdie manipulates her way into a position as a maid in the House of Quiet, hoping to find her there, receiving help with her newfound power. But everywhere Birdie looks, she finds more questions. The patients aren't as expected--they're from families who are too wealthy to need the procedure, rather than the ones seeking social mobility whom she expected to find, and fellow new maid Minnow is keeping secrets. The plot moves slowly in the first half, which introduces the gaslight-era setting with its oppressive class structure, a country involved in a mysterious geopolitical conflict, and the isolated House of Quiet, which is surrounded by a peat bog. White unveils magical abilities and sinister mystery in dreamy, disorienting passages. The third-person narration occasionally follows other residents of the house. Once the teens start building relationships--Birdie develops a friendship with Minnow, and each has a love interest among the upper-class residents--the intrigue picks up and the fragmented clues come together in an explosive, satisfying finale. Birdie presents white, and Minnow has light brown skin; Minnow's same-sex relationship is framed as remarkable only for crossing the class divide. Atmospheric, trippy, and loaded with empathy.(Fantasy. 12-adult) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.