Book 1 of The Never Mind Trilogy:
Two sisters. One destined for the crown, one doomed to silence. Princess Astrid and Princess Vega are identical in every way - except one was born near perfect, the other “deficient”. Born mute. By age six, their fates are sealed. Vega will be the next queen. Astrid, the silent princess, will spend the rest of her days rotting away in a facility. It is a time when the planet has been ravaged by global warming. Famine and disease demand drastic measures to preserve resources that are already stretched paper thin. The only thing standing between Astrid and the facility, a mother’s love.