Wow! There is so much depth to this story. I read and enjoyed the "Butterfly Wings." This one could not be more different.

I loved this strong, independent woman, so solidly grounded by your choices and imagination in this world--I complete believe in her. She is a realist who is comfortable within the magic of Middle-earth. I'm tongue-tied. It is not a period of canon that I am terribly well-versed on. I know about so much more about it than I did a year ago due to a couple bios I wrote. But you wove within it and its history and politics with such apparent comfort.

Everything is so creative--the color, the weather, the war and the peoples involved, the fabulous Goldberry and Tom. I had a bit of the same discomfort with Tom that your amazing narrator had and you handled him (them!) so deftly that I will never squirm again at the idea of Tom as a foolish "ridiculous-sounding oaf."

Goldberry! I certainly have always been more than a little in love with her and the picture you painted further enhanced and intrigued me.

I love the story.