Sarah V. Barnes A Clan Chief's Daughter

Set 6,000 years ago on the Eurasian steppe, A Clan Chief's Daughter: She Who Rides Horses (Book Two) continues the story of Naya, the first person to ride a horse. In book one, Naya and a magnificent chestnut red filly, brought together through a mystical encounter, begin a relationship destined to change the future of humans and horses alike. In book two, Naya must contend with the consequences of the forces she and the filly have unwittingly set in motion. Daughter of a clan chief, Naya returns to her people after a winter spent in the company of the wild horses, only to discover that danger threatens. Enemies of Naya's father seek to exploit the horses Naya has tamed in order to undermine his leadership. Plagued by nightmares of what could happen to the filly and her herd at the hands of men seeking power and control, Naya must decide whether protecting the horses and remaining loyal to her father require the sacrifice of her heart's desire. Based on extensive interdisciplinary research, She Who Rides Horses imagines an encounter between a girl and a horse that is both timeless and grounded in fact. A story filled with adventure, peril, love and betrayal, the saga of Naya and the red filly, begun in book one and continued in book two, portrays fundamental shifts that occurred when humans went from living as herders and hunter/gatherers to becoming mounted nomads, capable of spreading their language, lifestyle and beliefs across a huge swath of Eurasia and beyond. The domestication of the horse altered the course of history, contributing to the rise of patriarchy and accelerating the diffusion of new assumptions about the relationship between humans and the natural world that we are still contending with today. This is how it may have all begun...