The Pox Party — M.T. Anderson

RAISED BY A MYSTERIOUS GROUP OF RATIONAL PHILOSOPHERS, young Octavian is dressed in silks and given the finest of classical educations. His regal mother entertains the scholars with her beauty and wit, but Octavian questions the purpose behind his guardians' fanatical studies. As the disquiet of Revolutionary Boston grows around him, Octavian dares to open a forbidden door, only to discover the hideous nature of the experiments-- and his own chilling role in them.