The award-winning author returns to Samaria in this richly romantic tale that begins where Archangel left off. In that time, the women who craved the attention of angels were known as angel-seekers, a term used with awe by some--and scorn by others. A fascinating world built upon a complex system of technology and faith. ("Library Journal") "The most promising and original writer of fantasy to come along since Robin McKinley." Sharon Shinn is a journalist who works for a trade magazine. Her first novel, The Shapechanger's Wife , was selected by  Locus as the best first fantasy novel of 1995. She has won the William C. Crawford Award for Outstanding New Fantasy Writer, and was twice nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. A graduate of Northwestern University, she has lived in the Midwest most of her life.