The Glittering Court

Gr 8 Up—When the young Countess of Rothford is forced into an unwanted marriage with a despicable distant relative, she runs away and decides to leave the beautiful country of Osfrid behind in search of a new life. She follows a dashing student named Cedric to a place called the Glittering Court, where his family trains ordinary girls to act like nobility, ships them overseas to the New World, and profits from their marriage contracts to up-and-coming young men. It's there that she assumes the identity of her maid, Adelaide Bailey, and does her best to blend in with the other girls. But as she falls in love with Cedric and becomes tangled in a web of secrets and lies, she is cast out of the Glittering Court and forced into a radically different life working the land in search of the gold they desperately need to start a better life together. With a full cast of bold and original characters, Mead does a superb job of building a world that teens will be excited to enter into and disappointed to leave. The plot is intricately woven, and the ending promises future installments from other characters' points of view.