Zarabeth AbbeyZarabeth Abbey has been reading widely in the ethnography of some of the religious systems of the world for a long long time, starting with her first exposure to Frazer's The Golden Bough when she was in high school (a long, long time ago). Her interst in the history and religion the high Pamir, Central Asia, and westernmost China date from living in India when she was a girl (even longer ago than reference paragraph one, above). Her mother, a scholar of the Old and New Testaments, provided Zarabeth with her first framework for the varieties of religious experience, and in her family a streak of mystical communion with the Divine (plugging directly into the power source) was a respected, if not universal, experience. This is her first historical adventure novel. Read More Read Less