The Grace Year

“It’s common knowledge they’re out there waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls during their grace year, when their magic is believed to be most potent, so they can sell their essence on the black market as an aphrodisiac and youth serum.”

In The Grace Year, the poachers and the magic represent society’s obsession with young girls’ bodies. The very idea that the body parts of a 16-year-old girl would produce an aphrodisiac and source of beauty hints at an insidious, predatory culture toward young women. Tierney is sexualized by married men, and even the town’s priest lusts after Tierney, Kiersten, and the other girls. The girls can never be left alone, and they cannot escape being sexualized—not even in death.

“[T]hat’s the funny thing bout weeds. You can pull em up by the root, burn the soil where they stood, might lie dormant for years, but they’ll always find a way.”

When Tierney spies the mysterious red flower at the flower stand, the woman selling the flowers tells her that it’s just a weed. The flower, which comes to represent the underground rebellion of the women, appears throughout the novel. Weeds might be pesky and annoying to gardeners, but as the woman points out, they are remarkably resilient. The men may try to exert their control and put down the rebellion, but much like the weeds, the seeds of revolution are hard to get rid of completely.

“[T]elling tall tales of the women in the outskirts, the wicked things they’ll do for coin, bragging about all their bastards roaming the woods, hunting for a girl to poach.”

As the women gather in the chapel, Tierney knows exactly what the men are up to during their “solemn” ritual of choosing wives. While the women are held to the highest standard and punished severely for engaging in sexual acts outside of marriage, the men do not hold themselves to the same standard. They brag openly about visiting sex workers, having illegitimate children, and upholding the vicious cycle that results in their daughters being hunted and killed. The men in charge enable this behavior and weaponize the religious foundation of their community to perpetuate the idea that the women are to blame for tempting the men, instead of holding the men accountable for their behavior.

“How could the men live among us, lie with us, let us care for their children, knowing the horrors we inflict upon one another…alone…in the wilderness…in the dark?”

The girls all take a solemn vow to never speak of their grace year: not to one another and not to the men in town. Tierney thought it was a way of controlling the women, forcing them to keep their traumatic experiences a secret, but she starts to realize that the vow of silence is more to protect the women than anything else. During the grace year, the women are allowed to act in ways that would otherwise get them punished and killed; a vow of secrecy protects them from the consequences they would otherwise face. Additionally, if the men knew about what happened during the grace year, they wouldn’t be able to keep up the illusion that women are incapable of the degree of violence that could lead to a bloody uprising; fear of a loss of control could provoke them into greater violence.

“I think of my mother walking this path before me, June and Ivy, and Penny and Clara, who will be forced to follow in my footsteps.”

The grace year represents a cycle of generational violence and pain. It has been a tradition in Garner County for nearly 50 years, and in this time, hundreds of girls have suffered, died, and been killed. Tierney is overwhelmed at the thought that the grace year is her family’s past, present, and future: As long as there is a Garner County and people trying to control their women, there will be a grace year, even if it goes by a different name or looks different.

“Because it was done to them [...] Year after year. Why should we have a leg up when it was never given to them?” 

With this concept of generational trauma comes a surprising revelation. The previous generations of grace year girls burned their supplies, not because they were told to, but because they wanted to continue the cycle of violence. When it comes to trauma, survivors may fall into two groups: those who want to stop anyone from experiencing what they did and those who think their suffering should be experienced by everyone. Tierney falls into the former category, while Kiersten falls into the latter.

“Kiersten reaches for the end of Ravenna’s braid, pulling the red silk ribbon free. The release I feel is undeniable. [...] [I]t’s the sense of unwavering purpose they share.”

Tierney hungers for community and friendship during her grace year, which surprises her, because she always considered herself a solitary person. As she watches Kiersten remove Ravenna’s ribbon, Tierney feels herself drawn to the bond that has formed between them. They are connected by an innate understanding, and this twisted version of sisterhood is what motivates the girls to hurt themselves and one another to follow Kiersten’s lead.

“We’re here because Eve tempted Adam with her magic. Poisoned him with ripened fruit.”

Kiersten uses the religion that the girls have all grown up with to bend them to her will, which links the themes of Inner Evil and Going Wild and The Use of Religion as a Weapon Against Women. Even though the girls are miles away from the county and its oppressive hold over their lives, Kiersten reminds them that they are still under a religious panopticon: She has taken the position of an authoritarian deity whom the other girls fear and admire. Kiersten claims to be a prophetic voice in the camp, but her wild behavior leads the other girls down a road that ends in the bloodiest grace year in history.

“I believe in medicine. In facts. In truths. I will not get caught up in superstition.”

Tierney, who represents rebellion and defiance, is determined to not get wrapped up in the religious and mystical fervor that is spreading through the camp. She did not set out to become a skeptic, but she is unnerved that she hasn’t seen any tangible evidence of the magic’s existence: only vague claims and unsubstantial coincidences. She is determined to keep her feet firmly planted in reality. Liggett uses Tierney’s perspective to sow doubt, alternating between hints that everything happening to the girls can be factually explained and implications that there really is a greater power involved.

“Maybe just being around each other is what’s making the sickness spread. A poison of the mind.”

After some time in the camp, Tierney notices that something is happening to herself and the other girls. As the daughter of a scientist, Tierney first considers the idea of a sickness moving through the camp, causing lethargy, dizzy spells, and hallucinations. Once she is exiled from the camp, she starts to feel better, and she wonders if simply being around the other girls is making her sick, a nod to the county idea that women are inherently toxic or dangerous.

“I don’t know if it’s something in the air, the water, our food, but something is making them change…making them see and feel things that aren’t real. It happened to me, too, but when they banished me from the camp, I got better.”

Throughout the Autumn and Winter, Tierney comments that something must be making the girls sick: the air, the food, or each other. In Part 2, Chapter 34, right after Tierney is banished from the camp, she spies on the girls from afar and is reminded of the trappers who come into town “hopped up on hemlock silt” (177). These details foreshadow the discovery that the well water is poisoning the girls, and when Tierney learns about the hemlock silt in the camp’s well water, she finally has her answer as to what’s been happening in the camp: not magic, but poison.

“We’ve been sanctioned to cull the herd, paid handsomely to deliver your flesh back to the county. Your fathers, brothers, husbands, mothers, sisters…they are the ones who consume you. Not us.”

When Tierney learns that the county is responsible for the existence of the poachers, she is horrified and feels a deep sense of betrayal. Not only does the county pay the poachers to kill their unwanted daughters, but the people of the county also use girls’ body parts to feed their obsession with youth and beauty and with bearing sons. The girls are disposable, and their bodies are the only valuable commodity they can bring to the table.

“Maybe it’s the close quarters, the fact that he saved me more times than I can count, or maybe it’s forbidden fruit that’s making me feel this way, but I don’t think about getting out of here anymore. I don’t think about going home.”

Ryker might be a poacher, but Tierney is drawn to him in a way that she can’t understand. She knows that being caught fraternizing with a poacher would certainly result in her execution, but she cannot forget the kindness and care that Ryker has shown her. Tierney dreamed of being alone and unbothered for most of her life, but for the first time, she starts to imagine a future where she isn’t alone: a future with Ryker.

“As he pulls the strand, releasing my braid, I know I should avert my gaze, turn my eyes to God, the way we’re taught, but in this moment, all I want is for him to see me.”

When Ryker removes Tierney’s braid, he symbolically frees her of the expectations placed on her by the county. Still, her childhood training kicks in, and for a moment she thinks back to the strict instructions that are placed on the girls regarding sex. Women are not supposed to enjoy sex in the county; they are merely supposed to be willing and ready for their husbands to use their bodies. In this moment, Tierney and Ryker share a level of intimacy that most marriages in the county never see. Tierney’s decision to be with Ryker also signifies a firm break in community expectations, positioning them both as strong representatives of Resistance to Tradition.

“I may have broken my vows, shamed my family name, but I’m still a grace year girl. I’m one of them. And if I don’t help them, who will?”

Despite her break from tradition and her love affair with Ryker, Tierney still feels a sense of allegiance to the other grace year girls. She alone understands the root of their wild behavior and sickness, and although she is afraid of what might happen when she returns to the camp, she bravely puts her fear to the side and comes to their aid. Tierney’s decision to help those who have hurt her signifies yet another break from tradition: She will not allow herself to fall into the trap of sadism and cruelty that the other girls have fallen into.

“At first, I thought it was just to please Kiersten, a means of survival, but I’m afraid it goes much deeper than that. Maybe it’s something they don’t even want to give up.”

Tierney starts weaning the girls off of the contaminated well water, but to her surprise, they continue to behave erratically and long for stories about ghosts and magic. Tierney can’t understand if this behavior is a result of Kiersten’s indoctrination or if the girls simply have a deep-seated need to believe in something they can’t explain. She wonders if they will be able to fully let go of the idea of magic, or if they will spend the rest of their lives haunted by the memories of what they did during their grace year.

“That’s the problem with letting the light in—after it’s been taken away from you, it feels even darker than it was before.”

Gertie insists that, after they catch the person terrorizing the camp, Tierney should leave to run away with Ryker. Tierney thinks this line when she sends Gertie back to camp. For a while, she could pretend like the two of them were simply friends sharing a day together, but Gertie’s departure brings the reality of the situation back in full force. Tierney thought that by condemning herself to a life of singledom and few friends, she was protecting herself. She worries that by having these happy moments, her unhappy moments will be made harder.

“And if we don’t burn everything, the next year’s grace year girls will never suffer, and if they don’t suffer, they won’t be able to get rid of their magic.”

Kiersten takes this idea of suffering for the betterment of society to the ultimate extreme. Since Kiersten threatened Tierney even before the girls left for camp, it seemed like Kiersten’s behavior at camp stemmed purely from an inner core of cruelty. This moment, however, makes it clear that Kiersten truly believes in the necessity of the grace year, at least to an extent. Kiersten is a sadistic and cruel person, but she is also a victim of indoctrination, and the idea of breaking from tradition is unthinkable to her. This does not excuse her actions, but it adds a new layer to her character.

“It’s not just the grace year girls that are victims of the county. It’s the poachers, the guards, the wives, the laborers, the women of the outskirts…we’re all a part of this. We’re the same.”

As Tierney stares down Anders, who has Kiersten in his clutches, her soul becomes heavy with the understanding of what the grace year and the county does to people. Not only does it harm girls and push them to kill each other, but it also turns people like Anders into killers in the interest of feeding his family. The county exerts its control over the women in the outskirts by using their bodies for their pleasure, all while controlling the bodies of their wives back home. The county might be “utopia” for the powerful men who live there, but it is hell for everyone else.

“I can’t go back to the county to be a wife, but I can tell the truth. I can look them in the eyes and tell them what the grace year really is.”

The grace year is coming to a close, and Tierney is visibly pregnant. She knows that as soon as the county officials see her belly, they will sentence her to a public execution, but she doesn’t want to drag the other girls down with her. She promises that she will be the martyr: She alone will break her vow and speak of the grace year publicly in hopes of triggering change. This continues the theme of Rebellion and Resistance to Tradition.

“We keep our heads bowed to the ground [...] We do it out of reverence for everyone who’s walked this path before. Everyone who will be forced to walk it in the future.”

This moment echoes the walk to the encampment in Part 1, Chapter 14. The grace year is now Tierney’s past, and as she looks back on her experiences, she is overwhelmed with grief at the thought of how many others will have to live through this experience. She thinks of her little sisters and their playful innocence, as well as her mother and sisters who were changed and traumatized by their grace year. The cycle continues, and Tierney’s heart aches for the pain of the past and the future.

“The things we do to girls. Whether we put them on pedestals only to tear them down, or use them for parts and holes, we’re all complicit in this [...] The men will never end the grace year. But maybe we can.”

Tierney’s brutal assessment of the nature of misogyny in Garner County comes from her watching as her friends’ body parts arrive in a box. The girls she lived with, fought with, and suffered with have now been reduced to body parts, and they will be used in perverse ways even in death. There is no dignity for girls in Garner Country, alive or dead, and she has lost all trust in the men to take care of her and the other women. If change is going to happen, it will have to happen amongst the women.

“I’m a part of her, as is Ryker, and Michael, and all the girls who stood with me in that square to make this come to pass. She belongs to all of us.”

When Tierney gives birth to her daughter, the word “grace” takes on another meaning. Grace is a gift, and in the same way, Tierney and Ryker’s daughter is a gift to Garner County. Tierney acknowledges that it takes far more than one person to change an injustice: For the grace year to come to an end, it will take people like Tierney’s parents, Michael, and all the people of Garner County who want a better world for their girls. Tierney believes that her daughter will have all of the respect, kindness, and community to rally for real change.