BODY OF STARS

From debut novelist Laura Maylene Walter, a bold and dazzling exploration of fate and female agency in a world very similar to our own-except that the markings on women''s bodies reveal the future

Perfect for fans of Leni Zumas''s Red Clocks
and Naomi Alderman''s The Power, Body of Stars is a unique and timely exploration of girlhood, womanhood, and toxic masculinity. A piercing indictment of rape culture, it is an inventive and urgent read about what happens when women are objectified
and stripped of choice-and what happens when they fight back.

Celeste Morton has eagerly awaited her passage to adulthood. Like every girl, she was born with a set of childhood markings-the freckles, moles, and birthmarks on her body that fo
retell her future and that of those around her-and with puberty will come a new set of predictions that will solidify her fate. The possibilities are tantalizing enough to outweigh the worry that the future she dreams of won''t be the one she''s fate
d to have and the fear of her "changeling period": the time when women are nearly irresistible to men and the risk of abduction is rife.

Celeste''s beloved brother, Miles, is equally anticipating her transition to adulthood. As a skilled int
erpreter of the future, a field that typically excludes men, Miles considers Celeste his practice ground-and the only clue to what his own future will bring. But when Celeste changes, she learns a devastating secret about Miles''s fate: a secret that
could destroy her family, a secret she will do anything to keep. Yet Celeste isn''t the only one keeping secrets, and when the lies of brother and sister collide, it leads to a tragedy that will irrevocably change Celeste''s fate, set her on a path
to fight against the inherent misogyny of fortune-telling, and urge her to create a future that is truly her own.