In a world where girls are not allowed to read and have very limited options, being a Grace is one of the most attractive positions in Viridia. Upon her birth, Serina's parents saw that she would be very beautiful. They spent their meager income insuring that she would learn the proper skills necessary to be a Grace, a consort to the Superior. Every three years, three Graces are selected by the Superior to join his household. They provide entertainment, companionship, and heirs. Serina has grown up training mercilessly to ensure that she would be one of the girls picked, which should secure her family a future free from wants.
Her younger sister, Nomi, has trained as a handmaiden, the girl that accompanies a Grace, and the sisters hope to stay together. Whereas Serina is compliant and graceful, however, Nomi is willful and strong-headed. She learned how to read when her brother illegally taught her, and she wants more from life than servitude, even if it is to help her sister. She wishes to break the bonds that tie women to a second-class status.
At the Superior's court, Nomi catches the eye of the Heir, who appoints her one of his three Graces. Serina is humiliated but agrees to serve Nomi as her handmaiden. Both girls find themselves in roles for which they have not been prepared. Nomi, who stole a book from the Superior's library, is resistant to the Heir's approach. Serina is caught with Nomi's book, and to protect her sister she takes the blame, but is condemned to prison on Mount Ruin. There she discover a deadly world where girls fight against each other under the watchful eye of the male prison guards. Nomi, meanwhile, becomes part of a plot designed to overthrow the Superior and free her sister. Both of them make deadly choices, however, and soon find themselves in a perilous situation ...
Another example of girls pitted against themselves for the hand of the crown, Grace and Fury is nevertheless different enough to be intriguing. By flipping the roles on Serina and Nomi, the reader experiences the sudden change in their life circumstances, and roots for both of them to emerge unharmed, if not psychologically unscathed, from their experiences. Fans of The Selection, Red Queen, and others will appreciate the story and grit displayed by both main characters.
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