The House of Quiet

Seventeen-year-old Birdie blackmails a former employer to get a job as a maid at the House of Quiet in hopes of finding her missing younger sister, Magpie, whom Birdie believes may be captive there. The House of Quiet, an ominous mansion in the middle of a peat bog, is a treatment facility for those who’ve undergone an expensive and dangerous procedure that can awaken supernatural abilities such as future-sight and telepathy. Nothing about the House is as Birdie expects. Instead of being filled with the procedure’s usual demographic—under-resourced youth “who’d waited years for an opportunity” to undergo the process—the House’s residents seem to be strange aristocratic youth with powerful gifts, all being treated behind locked doors by a mysterious woman known as the House Wife. As Birdie searches for her sister, she becomes embroiled in a conspiracy that forces her to reevaluate her priorities and her knowledge of her country. White (the Camelot Rising trilogy) capably weaves alternating, dreamlike third-person perspectives and tantalizing hints of terrible secrets into an atmosphere of creeping dread. This gothic tale boasts hidden motivations, government propaganda, and forbidden longing to touch on issues of class consciousness and privilege. Birdie cues as white. Age 12–up. Agent: Michelle Wolfson, Wolfson Literary. (Sept.)