cover image The Forest of Hands and Teeth

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Carrie Ryan, . . Delacorte, $17.99 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-385-90631-9

Mary's village has been trapped for generations by a very near, very visible menace: the Unconsecrated—insatiable, flesh-eating zombies that constantly tear at the village's fences. Yet the Sisterhood—a conventlike order of religious women charged to protect the village's survival—is as much responsible for the submission of Mary's village as the Unconsecrated. When the fences are breached and the village overrun, Mary and several others escape through gated paths and arrive deep into the Forest of Hands and Teeth, forced to search beyond it for their future. Mary's observant, careful narration pulls readers into a bleak but gripping story of survival and the endless capacity of humanity to persevere. That Mary maintains emotional distance serves to render her yearnings and romantic feelings even more poignant and powerful. Fresh and riveting. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)