The Debutantes

Gr 9 Up–A fast-paced thriller set in New Orleans debutante culture. The wealthy, predominately white families of the Krewe of Deus social club hold an annual Les Masques Ball for high school debutantes. Last year’s queen, Margot, died in what was deemed an overdose; this year’s queen, Lily, is doused with red paint by someone in a jester mask while images of Margot are projected around her and later goes missing. The book is told from the alternating perspectives of her classmates Piper, April, and Vivian, who receive her last message prior to disappearing. Go-getter Piper, whose twin Wyatt is dating Lily, is naïve to the worst aspects of the club; Vivian, Lily’s best friend and soccer teammate, must reconcile how little she knew of her friend; and April, who took part in the ball only to please her father, lives with social anxiety and hasn’t told anyone she likes girls, or that she and Margot were friends. Vivian is less developed than the others, but it’s a tense, page-turning read that teens will fly through as the trio ends up knee-deep in the club’s dark side (the subjugation of women, the circumstances of Margot’s death, and blackmail, among other things), while being chased and taunted by that mysterious jester. There is some discussion of the club’s racist, sexist foundations, which persist in the modern day; except for two secondary characters, all characters read white.