In the Time You're Given

Alava, the daughter of the village chief, lives a sheltered life. Her main concern is why she hasn’t yet found a husband. Meanwhile, Mariem is secluded in the orphanage, a home for displaced or disruptive youth. Their fates will join, though, after Alava leaves her close-knit family and small town for the city and her future husband, and Mariem breaks out of the orphanage, joining the Wolves, an exiled people feared and hated by the rest of the country. The girls’ travels take them to other villages, where they find suffering and starvation because of a king more focused on protecting than on providing. The girls also learn the secrets of their people and their gods, and they must decide who to trust--and if they will live as they are told or risk themselves, their families, and their homes to fight for a new future.