Livli's Gift

Livli heals challenging injuries among the pilgrims to Kaunis-spa. Its magical hot spring gives her an edge, but Livli achieves spectacular cures mainly because she refuses to fail. A born pioneer, she hopes to match her new ways for banishing hurt with new ways of living. But the sisters of Kaunis-lodge fear rapid change. What precious things might they lose while tossing old inconveniences? Livli pushes forward the new, and one influential foe pushes back. Kaunis-home will keep its revered traditions, even if Livli loses everything she values. Everything...and the one thing she absolutely cannot lose. Livli seeks an answer in the oldest lore of her people, something so ancient, it's new. But mere resolve against failure meets an immoveable counter force this time. Victory requires more. Must surrender spell defeat? Or could letting go harness real power? PRAISE FOR J.M. NEY-GRIMM ..".the real heart of the story is character growth. The characters feel real and complicated..." - Mira, reader review of Troll-magic ..".one of my favourite things about Ney-Grimm's work is her treatment of fantastical creatures...the pegasi seem ethereal...creatures of light and gauze that are somehow the most real things in the world." - James J. Parsons, Speaking to the Eyes review of Sarvet's Wanderyar EXCERPT FROM LIVLI'S GIFT Livli rerolled the scroll carefully, returned it to its pigeonhole, and sighed. The whisper of her breath sounded loud in the quiet space, as had the crackle of the brittle parchment and the faint click of the closing cabinet door. The tale of The Princess and the Griffon did not have the reference she was looking for. Neither had The Lindworm's Eyrie nor Triton's Egg. "Why am I bothering," she murmured. "It's a wild gos chase." But she knew why she was bothering. She really, really wanted the information in whatever tale it was. "I wish I could remember." But she couldn't remember. Of course, she could ask her birth-mother. Sarvet would undoubtedly reel off an entire list of the folktales she'd told her children at bedtime. But I don't want her to know . . . what I'm thinking about right now. Livli sighed again. ABOUT THE AUTHOR J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands.