This lyrical and deeply imagined novel is set on the coast of what seems to be England near the end of the Stone Age in a prosperous community of stoneworkers. A one-armed boy who has no function in the society ventures outside their enclave and, returning with fantastic tales of the outside world, becomes the community bard. When he brings back a strange, disruptive woman, it gradually becomes clear that the end of this complacent, enclosed, and doomed band of craftspeople is about to come--that the Bronze Age is dawning--and it is up to the one-armed bard to find a new way for them to live. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.