The fifth installment of Orson Scott Card' s best-selling series The Tales of Alvin MakerPeggy Guester is a Torch, whose power is so great that she can follow the paths of each person's future and know their most intimate secrets. From the moment of Alvin's birth, Peggy has protected him. Now they are married, but their destinies have torn them apart: Alvin has gone to New England, where knacks are considered witchcraft and their use is punished with death. On a quest for world peace, Peggy has traveled south to the British Crown Colonies and the court of King Arthur Stuart. There she waits in exile, her life at risk in the hands of Alvin's younger brother Calvin, who has no intentions of showing her any brotherly love.