Silenced

The story of a secret that won't shut up.

When her daughter is expelled from high school for smoking marijuana, Vermont preschool teacher Annie Mulligan goes full Mama Bear to get her baby into college on schedule. Annie homeschools, grovels for an Answer Key, dissects roadkill-she'll do anything for Cara, except tell the whole truth.

Cara feels banished to social hell. She wants to go to school, track practice, and her senior prom. And she could-if she rats out the one with the weed at school. But that's her best friend who is freaking out because she's pregnant. Of course, Cara promises to keep it secret.

Although she excels at teaching ABCs and nursery rhymes, Annie discovers she still sucks at chemistry and algebra. She pretends she knows how to teach high school courses, but mother and daughter clash over The Scarlet Letter, Spanish, and boyfriends. Desperate for help, they join a conservative homeschool co-op, which provides science labs and a very handsome math tutor. In turn, Annie reluctantly agrees to attend a pro-life protest. But when Annie and Cara arrive at the demonstration outside the women's health clinic, cops show up with handcuffs. Which totally messes with the Lesson Plan.

SILENCED plays with assumptions, revealing polarized sides are often more alike than different, including mothers and daughters. In this strikingly relevant novel set in the bucolic Green Mountain State, author Kelly Bartlett asks, "Will they rally the courage to tell the truth? Or will they be Silenced?"