Red in Tooth and Claw

Gr 9 Up–When Faolan Kelly’s beloved Pops dies, she is left with no choice but to temporarily follow the direction of the mayor or risk exposing that her grandfather had been passing her off as a boy for years and thereby lose agency over her own life. So off she goes to the Settlement, a nearby monasterylike community that takes in boarders, with only one suitcase, a handful of chickens, and her goat. With the deed she will need to reclaim her family land safely hidden in her boot, Faolan does her best to get along with the group and its unsettling, controlling leader His Benevolence Gideon Dillard, HisBen for short. But her pragmatic intentions of laying low until she can return home are derailed almost immediately by her inability to hide her curiosity or leave questions unresolved, and there is no shortage of mysterious circumstances to go around. Faolan carries the signature warmth, sharp wit, and dogged determination of McBride’s lovable characters, and Tallis, the charming love interest, is a member of a semi-nomadic group with seeming Romany inspiration. Readers will be hooked immediately, then rewarded with a plot that just keeps unfolding; cult problems, creature danger, magic, and mayhem abound.