Meet the Mortons: In this family, murder is currency—and business is booming. The Mortons are a modern day, old-money dynasty with impeccable taste, from their exquisitely crafted cocktails to their expertly tailored vintage garments. They are also stone-cold killers. For the Mortons, homicide is heritage. They, along with the other legacy crime families, send their progeny to Helshire College, where the legacy kids strategically intermingle with ordinary students from wealthy families. Jessica Morton has always excelled at Helshire, secure in her knowledge that she is the prodigy of her generation. Now, having committed her first kill at her matriarch's behest, it should be Jessica's moment, her honor. But that kill will cut more ways than one, unknotting deep secrets that propel a series of revelations, spanning the Mortons' country estate, the New York City art world, and Helshire itself. What happens to Jessica when all of her dearly-held certainties face the axe? Sharp and hypnotic, The Mortons is an epic novel of alliances and power, loyalty and kinship, and the consequences of ruthless ambition.
Authors
Justine Larbalestier is an Australian young-adult fiction author. She is best known for the Magic or Madness trilogy: Magic or Madness, Magic Lessons and the newly released Magic's Child. She also wrote one adult non-fiction book, the Hugo-nominated The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction (Best Related Book, 2003), and edited another, Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century. Her surname has been pronounced in several different ways, but the FAQ on her website says that Lar-bal-est-ee-air is correct: Q: How do you pronounce your surname? A: Lar-bal-est-ee-air. It can also be pronounced Lar-bal-est-ee-ay or Lar-bal-est-ee-er. Those are all fine by me. Friends at school used to pronounce it: Lavaworm. I have to really like you to let you get away with that one, but. Larbalestier was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. She now alternates living between Sydney and New York City. In 2001, Justine married fellow author Scott Westerfeld.
Scott Westerfeld is a New York Times bestselling author of YA. He is best known for the Uglies and Leviathan series. His current series, IMPOSTORS, returns to the world of Uglies. The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.
