In a city of gilded cages, a secret can be a death sentence.

Gabriella's new life in New Castle is a carefully constructed lie. Raised in the impoverished ghetto just outside the city walls, she has crossed the forbidden line, living under the guise of an American expatriate with her wealthy aunt and uncle. Her scarred face and quiet mannerisms are a constant risk, but only one person sees past her defenses: James, the son of a powerful family, whose kindness breaks through the walls she has built.

Their quiet romance is a fragile secret, threatened by Daniel, a vindictive rival who uses his military family's power to expose her. When the truth comes out, Gabriella is seized and stripped of her identity, becoming a "whipping boy" in a brutal and ancient law. She is given to James's family, her body now a vessel for his punishments. But in a society that prides itself on civility, the sight of a live whipping boy—and the sound of Gabriella's heartbreakingly beautiful voice, secretly recorded and now a symbol of the resistance—awakens a sleeping rage.

As the city teeters on the brink of revolution, Gabriella and James must fight for a future where her voice can be heard without fear, where silence is no longer a shackle, and where one girl's scream can bring down a city built on silence.

Will her fight for freedom ignite a revolution, or will it cost her everything?