This book was SO GOOD! It's an intense YA story of "the grace year", the time when sixteen year old girls come into their magic and are escorted to a uninhabited island where they are left to their own devices. Before they go, the chosen girls are given veils by the eligible men in the town and then whoever survives the grace year and effectively depletes their magic has to get married. Tierney is the third daughter in her family to enter their grace year, just as their mother did years ago. No one is permitted to talk of their grace year and what happens, but Tierney knows that if she returns after, she doesn't want to end up controlled by a man like her mother and the other wives are--she'd rather end up working. To her surprise, her best friend veils her but the grace girls are taken away before she can talk to him about it. The book is broken down into three sections: Fall, when the grace year starts; Winter; and Spring/Summer before they go back. Tierney learns a lot about herself and her society and, based on the dreams she keeps having, may end up being part of changing everything.