In a super strong patriarchal society of one clan in southern California 130,000 years ago, a girl twin is born before her brother twin, and as a stroke of luck, she is not left to die, as would have been the case for a second-born girl. The girl, Elka, grows to be strong, fearless, and spiritual, things that didn't fit well in the culture into which she meets life, a culture where each man rules over his family without limits on his authority. One man, her grandfather, Geol, rules the clan. The clan's culture sees birth as perfection of person and every infraction of the clan rules as a loss of integrity, a brokenness. Lose a certain, unspecified, amount of integrity, and one is exiled from the clan forever, as there is no remedy for loss of too much integrity. Her father sinks deeper into power-driven attempts to kill the strong spirit within Elka, a spirit he fears, a possible escape plan opens up for Elka. Will the plan save her? Or, will she be victimized as one member of the clan already is, to become to the extreme of their belief, a slave to every unreasonable whim of her husband for the rest of her life? Elka opts for escape, agonizing at separation from her twin and others she loves in the clan. Will she make it? Will she survive the separation? Will she find a place where she can thrive in the huge land that surrounds her? Read to discover the answers.
