Cirrus@Austlit

'It is 1974 and Sarah and Steven meet and fall in love as students at Melbourne University. However, Sarah’s father has other plans for her and does not approve of the young male she has found with the too long hair and too long boots. He organises a place for her at Oxford University, sure she will accept the opportunity and sure the separation from Steven will dampen their adore. Unknown to him, Steven thwarts his plans by applying for and obtaining a scholarship to Oxford.
'The first year in Oxford is challenging because Sarah’s father has also arranged for her to meet the right sort of person. In particular, an up and coming lawyer with good connections and good prospects who he expects to ‘sweep her off her feet’. Things become ugly as he and some friends attempt to wrest Sarah away from Steven by first discrediting him, then in more physical ways. Some of the tension is assuaged by the close friendship the two make with the women who was like a fairy godmother to Sarah’s father and grandmother during the 1930s.
'At the end of the first term in Oxford the narrative jumps forward 43 years to the same time that Sarah and Steven met as adults in ‘Sarah’. The two both have successful careers and three adult children making their way in the world. Sarah causes a stir when she gives a lecture on the misogyny and poor treatment of women rampant in business. There is pressure from ‘the establishment’ for her to resign but she resists and ends up taking the fight to the privileged men, some of whom she has damning reports on.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Anita’s story continues but this time she has a companion.

'After fleeing the battle for Darham Pality, Anita takes up life as a herbalist and animal healer. However, even though her memories are suppressed, old habits come to the for and she trains the child she discovered on that fateful day in all her arts and skills. Indeed, she and the child, Vanessa, are surprisingly similar, to the point where they are mistaken for sisters and even twins when Vanessa is older.

'The Servants of The Bear are a constant worry and the pair frequently move to avoid confrontation. An old friend dies and Anita stumbles across and rescues a person from her past. It starts a chain of events which lead to the uncovering of secrets and the restoration of Anita’s hidden memories. Anita learns to live with what she is and feels compelled to head north to reaffirm old friendships. Vanessa continues on her southern journey and comes fully of age, demonstrating her true character is much like her ersatz mother’s when she clears corruption out of the southern realms and becomes entangled with the Servants of The Bear in the process.

'Anita, Vanessa and the northern realms join forces to confront the southern Barons and their old nemesis, the Servants of The Bear.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Sarah is a successful, top-level public servant married to Greg, a highly successful barrister and QC. To all appearances she has an idyllic life with two grown children and a successful career. However, there are undercurrents of discontent (Sarah ‘of course’ was the one to take the major career break when the children where young) which a series of events bring to the surface.

'Sarah is the front runner to fill an upcoming vacancy at Deputy Secretary level in her department. However, Greg is discontented with his life and wants fresh challenges. He has a chance at a late political career and blithely assumes Sarah will throw her support behind him. As well as her inheritance from her father’s estate he expects her to abandon her career to further his ambitions. She refuses to accede to his expectations which causes friction. Not content with this Greg works behind her back to put pressure on her. However, old history surfaces with the chance discovery of decisions made for Sarah without her knowledge when she was young, well meant, but arrogant and paternalistic. Combined with the death of her dog and a chance encounter which stirs old emotions it all starts to unravel.

'A look at paternalism and male entitlement wrapped up in a light romance and ‘first love’, and how small events or non-events can have a disproportionately large impact on a person’s life.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Anita is betrayed by one she suspects, one she does not but should and worst, by herself.

'Anita’s story continues. She consolidates her claim on the Pality of Darham with many of the Holdings which rebelled against her coming under her sway. She discovers more about her unique capabilities but it also raises more questions.

'The enmity of the Servants of The Bear, supported by the Southern Holdings, continues unabated and poses the greatest threat to her and the social restructuring she is overseeing in Darham. The new leader of the Servants is utterly committed to her removal. His conviction is further fueled by the elevation and protection of Lady Mavis within Darham. Both are anathema to him and he schemes to permanently remove Anita and Mavis. Anita’s at times impulsive actions lead to situations which only work to confirm his worst fears. The Servants denounce her as ‘a friend of the taint’ and lead the Southern Holdings against Darham again. The resulting conflict leads to an unexpected outcome for The Servant, pushes Anita to an extreme she might never return from and awakens a power from the age of Chaos.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'It is many centuries since the world was plunged into darkness after the Chaos war. Horse, sword and bow are the power in the land with a multitude of lordlings overseeing domains of peasant and farmer. The Servants of The Bear arose out of the Chaos and see themselves as the saviour of mankind. They are dogma driven and in their zeal to purify mankind vigorously pursue those they consider carry ‘the taint’ from the Chaos times. If they were aware of the extent of Anita’s differences they would persecute and burn her for a na-man, a tainted monster of the Chaos time.

'Anita’s past is clouded and her future uncertain. All she knows is people are dangerous and the best way to understand the danger is to abandon her solitary life and mingle with them. Her first encounters are not encouraging and later she discovers that in many ways she is unlike the people around her. She also discovers the dominant religious sect, the Servants of The Bear, are her primary peril.

'Anita acquires some true friends who realise she is not a normal person but know her inner self. While none understand her they realise she does not behave like one of the Servants of The Bear’s na-men. Anita’s closest companions are a horse and an eagle, although both are much more than their outer forms suggest. Anita and her friends must avoid the clutches of the Servants of The Bear, negotiate the dangers of the amazingly durable old technologies and later fight for her position in the land for her to start to realise the full potential of both her old bloodline and her altered self.'

Source : publisher's blurb