Found as an infant drifting alone in an escape pod in deep space, Acorna was reared by three young asteroid prospectors who raised her as their mascot, their miracle girl, and saved her from those who would destroy her mysterious powers. But now Acorna has become a young woman who has dreams of a shining world with blue grass and green skies. She still has the translucent horn in the middle of her forehead - she still has her powers to make things heal, and grow, and purify, but she longs to know where she came from - what world in the galaxy was her home? With one of her old protectors, she sets off on a quest to find her own kind, but even as she leaves a strange craft appears in the skies, peopled by gentle and mysterious telepaths who bring, not only terrible news of a frightening race of invading space killers, but also the memory of an infant, lost in space, long ago...

Author Biography

Anne McAffrey is one of the world's leading science-fiction writers, and has won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. Born and raised in the US, although of Irish extraction, she now lives permanently in Ireland, in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains, where, as well as writing, she breeds horses. She has recently been awarded the Margaret A. Edwards' Lifetime Achievement Literary Award. She is the creator of the Dragons of Pern series. argaret Ball is the creator of the Dragons of Pern and a winner of both the Nebula and Hugo prizes. She has been a name on both sides of the Atlantic for over thirty years.