Reading Level: Young Adult

It's 1895, and sixteen-year-old Gemma Doyle has been uprooted from her life in India. She is sent to Victorian England where she is enrolled in Spence, a finishing school for young ladies, after the tragic suicide of her beloved mother. Since the day of her mother's death, Gemma has been having disturbing and frightening visions. She has also been shadowed by Kartik, the handsome young man she first saw on the day her mother died, but she keeps this to herself, especially once she is embroiled in the world of cliques and intrigues at Spence.

Spence is a school with a history, and a mysterious burned-out East Wing, where no one is allowed. Gemma is an outsider here, but clever and witty, she defends her dumpy roommate Ann against the cruel jibes of the most powerful of the cliques, and finds a way to insert herself and the hapless Ann into the inner circle. Gemma's visions increase until, one day, she is led to find a diary of a former Spence student, which has been hidden away for years.

The diary tells of a mystical Order, and the powers those who know its secrets can wield. Gemma and her friends, skeptical at first, discover there are other realms to explore besides the narrow confines of the Victorian world, and their predestined lives as proper wives. While there is great beauty, there is also great danger here, and Kartik attempts to dissuade Gemma from the course she has set for herself and her friends. Gemma, while she is drawn to Kartik, ignores his warnings and plunges ahead into the enthralling dark world of magic, driven by memories of her mother.

This is a compelling read - mysterious, romantic, witty, and suspenseful. A Great and Terrible Beauty is the first of a trilogy, and if the next two volumes are anywhere near as good as the first, one that should prove wildly successful, especially with teen girls.

— Kay Morris