Sheepfarmers Daughter

Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter may be the daughter of a humble sheep farmer in the far north end of the kingdom, but she dreams of so much more. After refusing her father’s orders to do the sensible thing and marry the pig farmer down the road, Paks, runs away to join a band of mercenaries, dreaming of daring deeds and military glory. But life in the army is different than she imagined, and her daydreams at first seem to be turning to nightmares. But Paks refuses to let her dreams die—and does her duty with honor and integrity. Her path is an arduous one, but it will transform her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne. The Compton Crook Award‑winning first novel from Nebula‑winning author Elizabeth Moon. The first in the Paksenarrion Trilogy—now with an all‑new introduction by the author. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Paksenarrion--Paks, for short--refuses her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road and is off to join the army. And so her adventure begins--the adventure that transforms her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.

From the Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic author: a magnificent novel that recalls Iceland's medieval epics and classics, set in the early twentieth century starring an ordinary sheep farmer and his heroic determination to achieve independence. • "A strange story, vibrant and alive…. There is a rare beauty in its telling." —Atlantic Monthly If Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to free himself is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic. Having spent eighteen years in humiliating servitude, Bjartur wants nothing more than to raise his flocks unbeholden to any man. But Bjartur's spirited daughter wants to live unbeholden to him. What ensues is a battle of wills that is by turns harsh and touching, elemental in its emotional intensity and intimate in its homely detail. Vast in scope and deeply rewarding, Independent People is a masterpiece.

Granddaughter of the sorceress Kethry, daughter of a noble house, Kerowyn had been forced to run the family keep since her mother's untimely death. Yet now at last her brother was preparing to wed, and when his bride became the lady of the keep, Kerowyn could return to her true enjoyments - training horses and hunting. But all Kerowyn's hopes and plans were shattered when her anscestral home was attacked, her father slain, her brother wounded, and his fiancee kidnapped. Drive by desperation and the knowledge that a scorcerer had led the journey which would prove but he first step on the road to the fulfillment of her destiny.

Once a sheepfarmer's daughter, now a seasoned veteran, Paksenarrion has proven herself a fighter. Years with Duke Phelan's Company taught her weaponry, discipline, and how to react as part of a military unit. Now, though, Paks feels spurred to a solitary destiny. Against all odds she is accepted as a paladin-candidate by the fellowship of Gird. Years of study will follow, for a paladin must be versed in diplomacy and magic as well as the fighting arts. But before she is fully trained, Paks is called on her first mission: to seek out the fabled stronghold of Luap far to the west. The way is long, the dangers many--and not even the Marshal-General of Gird can say whether glory or ruin awaits. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Helen Davenport, governess for a wealthy London household, spots an advertisement seeking young women to marry New Zealand's honorable bachelors and begins correspondence with a gentleman farmer. When her church offers to pay her travels under an unusual arrangement, she jumps at the opportunity. On the ship, she meets Gwyneira Silkham, traveling to meet a New Zealand baron who won her in a game of blackjack. When their new husbands turn out to be very different than expected, the women must help one another find the life they'd hoped for.

Complete at Last in a Single Hardcover Volume ¾the Finest Trilogy of Epic Fantasy in a Decade Paksenarrion, a simple sheepfarmer's daughter, yearns for a life of adventure and glory, such as was known to heroes in songs and story. At age seventeen she runs away from home to join a mercenary company and begins her epic life . . . Book One: Paks is trained as a mercenary, blooded, and introduced to the life of a soldier . . . and to the followers of Gird, the soldier's god. Book Two: Paks leaves the Duke's company to follow the path of Gird alone¾and on her lonely quests encounters the other sentient races of her world. Book Three: Paks the warrior must learn to live with Paks the human. She undertakes a holy quest for a lost elven prince that brings the gods' wrath down on her and tests her very limits. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "Engrossing . . ." ¾Anne McCaffrey "A tour de force . . ." ¾Jack McDevitt "Worldbuilding in the grand tradition, background thought out to the last detail." ¾Judith Tarr "Superlative . . ." ¾Booklist "Brilliant . . . the excitement of high heroic adventure . . . will enchant the reader." ¾Bookwatch

One of the most beloved novels of all time, Colleen McCullough's magnificent saga of dreams, struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian outback has enthralled readers the world over. The Thorn Birds is a chronicle of three generations of Clearys—an indomitable clan of ranchers carving lives from a beautiful, hard land while contending with the bitterness, frailty, and secrets that penetrate their family. It is a poignant love story, a powerful epic of struggle and sacrifice, a celebration of individuality and spirit. Most of all, it is the story of the Clearys' only daughter, Meggie, and the haunted priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart—and the intense joining of two hearts and souls over a lifetime, a relationship that dangerously oversteps sacred boundaries of ethics and dogma.

Paksenarrion defies her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road, instead, she's off to join the army. So her adventure begins - the adventure that transforms her into a hero chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.

Eight kingdoms in danger, an enemy that cannot die... Count Jeddrin has received a grisly message. His son, Filis, is dead, brutally killed by Alured the Black - the first move in his plan to take the eight kingdoms. But Filis managed to send his own message, telling of the dark forces that control Alured, warning of something more than human behind the man's eyes... Meanwhile, Dorrin Verrakai, last of a long line of magelords, must forever leave the home she loves in order to protect powerful magic relics created by her ancestors. For their power is desired both by Alured, and by the dark elves infesting the kingdoms. Searching for answers, her friend and King, Kieri, considers waking the magelords from their ancient slumber...