Sister Light Sister Dark

A warrior woman and her dark twin are destined to remake the world in this “powerful” tale, the first in a trilogy by a World Fantasy Award winner (Newsweek). Legend foretold the child named Jenna, who was three-times orphaned before she could crawl, a fate that would leave her in the hands of women who worshipped the benevolent goddess Great Alta. In this world without men, Jenna comes of age, learning quickly the skills of close combat. But her most powerful gift lies elsewhere: a mirror sister who emerges only in the darkness—a twin named Skada—and shares the soul of the young, white-haired warrior who might well be the goddess reborn. But if Jenna is, in truth, the one whose coming is awaited, there is cause for great alarm among those who rule the Dales, for the prophecy speaks of upheaval and change, and a devastating end of all things. An incomparable world-builder and one of America’s premier fantasists, the remarkable Jane Yolen begins a three-part saga as inventive, intelligent, and exciting as anything that has ever been produced in the literature of the fantastic. Brilliantly contrasting the “true” story of Jenna with the later myths, poetry, and so-called scholarship that her coming engendered, Yolen creates a culture as richly imagined as those found in the acclaimed novels of Ursula K. Le Guin. A truly magnificent work, Sister Light, Sister Dark takes fantasy fiction to wondrous places it has never gone before.

"A stunning novel about two sisters, bonded to each other in the net of a family, and how each of them finds a way to break free." "Gray always believed her sister, Bobbie, was the brilliant one; their father, Max, confirmed it. Bobbie was the star, the one whose life was shot through with light. If Bobbie was the light sister, Gray saw herself as the dark one: invisible, depressed, in Bobbie's shadow. Yet Gray is the first to understand that Bobbie's increasingly erratic behavior may be not superior precocity but rather the early signs of mania. Diagnosed as possibly schizophrenic, Bobbie embarks on bizarre and dangerous adventures, while Gray becomes determined to move away from the family and create a new life for herself. Yet even as Gray finds a supportive boyfriend, acceptance at Harvard, a vocation, she feels she is held back by menacing questions that she cannot avoid - questions about sexuality, her sister, her father, herself; questions that threaten to destroy all Gray has worked so hard to create." "Full of real characters, unconventional wisdom about families, and the special insights that can come from pain, Lee Walmsley's first novel is a triumph. Marked by intelligence and humor, Light Sister, Dark Sister is a beautiful book that readers will be unable to forget."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

If you like the fiction of Henry James, the psychology of his brother William, and have a taste for Gothic mysteries you will enjoy The Dark Sister. The novel is a curious mixture of the Victorian repressiveness about sex, intricate stories within stories, and Jewish humor. With a new afterword

I had every reason to hate her, my forbidden sister. She was like someone who had died but wouldn't stay buried . . . Emmie Wilcox was only six when her older sister, Roxy, was thrown out of their New York City apartment. Their stern father's military-style rules left no room for rebellion, and Roxy was as defiant as Emmie-now an outstanding student at a private school-is compliant: a perfect daughter, une fille parfaite, as her Parisian-born mother lovingly calls her. Two sisters, total opposites-yet Emmie is secretly obsessed with the mystery surrounding Roxy: What had she done? Where is she now? And is there a hidden side to Emmie that resembles Roxy's spiteful nature? Knowing only that Roxy is a highly paid escort to the city's wealthiest men, Emmie goes behind her father's back to track down the sister she fears, despises, and inexplicably clings to . . . and whose influence might run deeper than Emmie ever imagined.

From the acclaimed author of Defy, Sara B. Larson, Sisters of Shadow and Light is a timeless and fantastical tale of sisterly love and powerful magic The night my sister was born, the stars died and were reborn in her eyes.... Zuhra and Inara have grown up in the Citadel of the Paladins, an abandoned fortress where legendary, magical warriors once lived before disappearing from the world—including their Paladin father the night Inara was born. On that same night, a massive, magical hedge grew and imprisoned them within the citadel. Inara inherited their father’s Paladin power; her eyes glow blue and she is able to make plants grow at unbelievable rates, but she has been trapped in her own mind because of a “roar” that drowns everything else out—leaving Zuhra virtually alone with their emotionally broken human mother. For fifteen years they have lived, trapped in the citadel, with little contact from the outside world...until the day a stranger passes through the hedge, and everything changes. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

DIVDIVIn these twenty-eight magnificent tales, which include two Nebula Award winners, Jane Yolen puts a provocative spin on familiar storybook worlds and beloved fairy tale characters/divDIV One of the most acclaimed and honored authors in science fiction and fantasy, Jane Yolen has been called “the Hans Christian Andersen of America” for her brilliant reimagining of classic fairy tales. In her first collection of short stories written for an adult audience (after Tales of Wonder and Dragonfield), Yolen explores themes of freedom and justice, truth and consequence, and brings new life to our most cherished fables and myths./divDIV /divDIVHere are storybook realms rendered more contemporary, and cautionary tales made grimmer than Grimm: Snow White is transported to Appalachia to match wits with a snake-handling evil stepmother and Beauty’s meeting with the Beast takes a twisty, O. Henry–esque turn; in Yolen’s Nebula Award–winning “Lost Girls,” a feminist revolt rocks Peter Pan’s Neverland and in the collection’s glorious title story—also a Nebula winner—the poet Emily Dickinson receives some unexpected and otherworldly inspiration. Sometimes dark, sometimes funny, and always enthralling, Sister Emily’s Lightship is proof positive that Yolen is truly a folklorist of our times. /divDIV /divDIVThis ebook features a personal history by Jane Yolen including rare images from the author’s personal collection, as well as a note from the author about the making of the book. /div/div

Mythology states that the goddess Alta created two sisters to rule the forces of darkness and light on Earth. Could the orphaned Jenna be the goddess of Earth, the one foretold in the myths?

Nebula Award Finalist: A long-awaited savior joins forces with her dark twin to confront the evil threatening their land in the second book of the acclaimed epic fantasy the Great Alta Saga Grown to young womanhood in the mountain region of the Dales and trained for combat by the all-female followers of the goddess Great Alta, Jenna reluctantly accepts the fact that she might well be the Anna, the warrior queen who has long been prophesied. Orphaned three times while still a small child, the now-teenage Jenna is compelled to lend her support and skills to the Dales’ rightful king and his brother, Carum, who holds her heart, for the reign of evil usurper Lord Kalas threatens the future of every worshipper of Alta. But Jenna does not ride alone. Whenever darkness falls, she and her companions—a young priestess in training and an aging warrior—are joined by Skada, white-haired Jenna’s dark sister, who shares her destiny and her soul. But even their combined powers may not be enough to defeat the entrenched malevolence that means to destroy everything and everyone they hold dear. A finalist for the Nebula Award for best novel, Jane Yolen’s White Jenna is a wondrous tale of duty, destiny, peril, romance, and fantasy. Interspersed with the myths and poetry the story engendered, it is a brilliantly imaginative creation of a world, a culture, and their enduring lore.