In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever an absentee father the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed and watching her beloved cousin Bea be dangerously obsessed with the forbidden. Was it their choice? What will be of those left behind? Why did Alexs beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesnt know.

The first adult novel by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: BUZZFEED, GOODREADS, BOOKRIOT Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons left a trail of fiery destruction in their path and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will be of those left behind? Why did Alexs beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not?- Book Synopsis A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a womans place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. But this version of 1950s America is characterized by a significant event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Perfect for fans of THE HANDMAID'S TALE, VOX, and THE POWER.About the Book Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. Everything is about to change, forever.Īnd when it does, this, too, will be unmentionable. Whether anyone likes it or not, the Mass Dragoning is coming. But she is a ghostly shadow of her former self, and with scars across her body - wide, deep burns, as though she had been attacked by a monster who breathed fire.Īlex, growing from young girl to fiercely independent teenager, is desperate for answers, but doesn't get any. Then Alex's mother disappears, and reappears a week later, one quiet Tuesday, with no explanation whatsoever as to where she has been. In her next-door neighbour's garden, in the spot where the old lady usually sits, is a huge dragon, an astonished expression on its face before it opens its wings and soars away across the rooftops.Īnd Alex doesn't see the little old lady after that.

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, set in 1950s America, Kelly Barnhill exposes a world that wants to keep girls and women small - and examines what happens when they rise up.Īlex Green is four years old when she first sees a dragon. In a world where girls and women are taught to be quiet, the dragons inside them are about to be set free.

When women were dragons review