In this allegorical fantasy of good versus evil, the world of Maether was created by the Great One and is held together by the mighty sentinels and the 60 lysefolk that the Great One placed in the City of Trees. Whenever a lyse (pronounced lees) dies, the Great One sends another. There must always be the mighty sentinel trees and the 60 lysefolk, or Maether will no longer exist. But the demon Rane, the enemy of the Great One, is killing the sentinels one by one, and he wants to destroy the lysefolk and the City of Trees. Rane is getting stronger and stronger, and his followers are beginning to dominate the land. Truens, who are followers of the Great One, must keep their faith secret or they'll be attacked by Rane's worshippers, robbed of all their belongings, and even killed.

In the midst of this cosmic struggle, 15-year-old Linnet lives quietly in Maether, wishing for nothing except that her brutal stepfather will leave her alone. Linnet's own father died when she was a small child, and her mother remarried a Rane worshiper. All Linnet has left of her father is his Lysetome, the leather book of his faith which she cherishes, and the dreams she has of her father telling her to "take the path." She remains faithful to her Truen faith. So, when her stepfather tells her that he has betrothed her to a Ranite and she must accept the red tattoo of Rane on her forehead, Linnet decides to escape. That's when something miraculous happens: a pathway forms as the grasses and weeds bend down before her. It can't be the wind doing it because the wind is blowing from the north, and the pathway leads toward the east. Could this be what her father meant in her dreams?

Linnet follows the path, which leads her on a quest. She wants to find the City of Trees. This quest is difficult enough. She almost doesn't make it. But when she gets there, she learns that she must embark on another, even greater and more dangerous quest. This second quest is so dangerous, in fact, that one lyse has already died trying to make it, and the lysefolk can only ask Linnet to embark upon it --- she alone must decide if she will. Does the lysemark on her hand mean that the Great One has chosen her to be a lyse? Will she be able to find the path to the sacred waters of Maer's Lake? The future of the lysefolk and all of Maether depends upon it. And Rane will stop at nothing to prevent it.

THE HIDDEN ARROW OF MAETHER is a book of courage, faith, and high purpose, with a dash of romance tossed in. You will enjoy the imaginative world the author creates, and you'll want to read about Linnet's quests as she fights for the Great One.