First published 2023
Inmate Eleven sits in her small room with only her dog for company. She knows she exists as a biological match for the president's son, ready to provide whatever he might need if illness strikes. The authorities call her a Blue, marking her with the color of sadness. Her dog paces constantly, going wolf in his mind, imagining freedom beyond their walls. Inmate Eleven feels the same pull toward wildness. She wants to understand why they label her Blue and what lies beyond her confined world. Meanwhile, in present day Washington DC, Imogen struggles with intense phobias and nightmares about being trapped. The pandemic has isolated her from everyone except her mother and therapist. Her older brothers once helped her cope, but now she faces her fears alone. A college student enters her life and shows her the difference between feeling Blue and being empowered as a Black person. Both girls must discover their own voices and recognize that their stories matter, even when the urge to go wolf feels overwhelming.
Genres: fiction, dystopia, fantasy, contemporary, young-adult
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Washington DC
Period: present-day
349 pages · Kindle Edition · Feiwel & Friends
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness