Departures

Tonight, seventeen-year-old Evalee is scheduled to die.She's planned her celebration for weeks, and other than leaving her sister Gracelyn behind, Evalee is ready. She shouldn't be nervous; the Directorate says this is how it should be, and it is never wrong. So she wears her best dress and dances the night away with all of her appointed friends and family. Then she goes to sleep for the last time... Except, the next morning, Evalee wakes up. Gracelyn is a model Directorate citizen with a prodigious future ahead. If she could only stop thinking about the shuffling from Evalee's room on her departure morning. Even wondering if something went wrong is treason-the Directorate doesn't make mistakes. If she pulls at the thread, the entire privileged life the Directorate set for her will unravel into chaos. Or worse. Before the Directorate can correct its mistake and get rid of Evelee for good, she is swept away by rebels to a world she grew up believing couldn't exist-one filled with unpredictability and messy choices. As the Directorate's lies are stripped away, Evalee becomes determined to break Gracelyn free from its grasp-before Gracelyn's search for the truth draws the Directorate's attention and makes her more valuable to them dead than alive. "Departures ... delights and disturbs and allows us to see our own world with brand new eyes.">"An absorbing, taut coming-of-age tale that grapples intelligently with mortality and liberty.">"Wenstrom's masterful storytelling is on full display with rising stakes, tense twists, and emotional resonance."-Megan Lynch, Award-Winning Author