From Booklist
When, in this delightful fantasy, the seams between worlds seen and unseen become unsealed, a young woman can more easily avail herself of the ancient, woman-centered, earth-mother-centered empowerments, ways, and wisdom that centuries of patriarchal rule have suppressed. Arian, a girl whose wedding day is less than a month away, enjoys the wedding gift of her aunt Naomi--a last solitary holiday in the forest. She is sheltered by House, who in her anthropomorphic characterization is enchanting as well as enchanted. She is comforted and cleansed by House's companion, the equally winning River. Finally, she is aided in her archetypal heroine's quest for self-knowledge by the book's Three Graces--gnarled, arthritic Urd and large-footed, calloused Mana and Temu, who are given to wearing red canvas sneakers with blue laces. In this journey across worlds, a girl becomes wise in the ancient ways of matriarchal power and healing and, equipping herself for "the real world," finds her strength and voice. Whitney Scott
