The Wall was built to keep them safe. Or so they thought.

For as long as seventeen-year-old apothecary Rose Allgood can remember, the towering stone Wall surrounding Noah’s Valley has protected her people. No one leaves. No one fights. And no one questions why.

But their paradise has been hiding its thorns. When Rose’s mother becomes the Valley’s first murder victim and her twin brother is swiftly condemned, she alone is searching for the real killer. Determined to find the truth, she follows a trail of hidden messages, forbidden knowledge, and whispers of a past no one dares to remember.

The deeper she digs, the more certain Rose becomes that her mother’s death was no accident. That the Wall isn’t just keeping something out.

It’s keeping something in.

Fans of The Hunger Games, The Grace Year, and The Maze Runner will devour The Verdant Cage—a chilling dystopian thriller about what it takes to rebel when you discover your entire world is a lie.

“Fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent, consider this your warning: with The Verdant Cage, Jess Lourey has unleashed a YA dystopian thriller so taut and propulsive I was breathlessly tearing through pages straight to 3 a.m. It’s pure adrenaline—with a slow-burn romance glinting beneath the danger and a jaw-dropping twist that had me spinning. My favorite book of the year!!”—New York Times Bestselling Author Annika Martin

"The deft prose is enlivened by action sequences, as well, which are sure to draw readers into the central mystery."—Kirkus Reviews

"This fast-paced dystopian thriller stole our breaths for the entire ride, and we weren’t fully sure it was safe to let go by the ending."—The HoneyPOP

"Lourey’s first foray into dystopian writing is a winner. So many threads, like the verdant vines that twist around the closed gate to Noah’s Valley. Although the book is marketed as young adult, it is, like Lourey’s other thrillers, for everyone who loves a delicious read.”—Mary Anne Grossman, Pioneer Press