Kimberly Derting -- The Pledge -- Gables

Start: Nov 10 2011 7:00 pm

Popular YA author Kimberly Derting takes us into the violent country of Ludania, where the language you speak determines what class you are, and there are harsh punishments if you forget your place. Looking a member of a higher class in the eye can result in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina (Charlie for short) can understand all languages, a dangerous ability she’s been hiding her whole life. Her only place of release is the drug-filled underground club scene, where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. There, she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy who speaks a language she’s never heard, and her secret is almost exposed. Through a series of violent upheavals, it becomes clear that Charlie herself is the key to forcing out the oppressive power structure of her kingdom in The Pledge (Margaret K. McElderry, $16.99).