The Aura Shaper trilogy is an epic tale of good versus evil set in a late medieval fantasy world where 'gifted' people are born with an extraordinary talent and all living things are surrounded by an aura - a unique pattern of moving light that reveals their every belief, thought, action, and feeling. Only a few people can see these auras and fewer still can understand them, but the ability to manipulate them belongs to the rarest gifted of all: Aura Shapers. The most feared and reviled of individuals, they can reach into a person's aura and alter it with only the power of their mind. It's little wonder Aura Shaping is forbidden, its use punishable by death, or that centuries of persecution are believed to have wiped out Aura Shapers. Until now.
Ruth Northcott, a Healer, is dying from the poison she's accumulated over decades of treating the sick. Her only daughter sits by her side, desperate to help, but to do so would be to break her word and risk her own life. Worse, it would deny the sacrifices her mother has made to keep her safe. For Anna is not just an ungifted girl with an ugly birthmark: Anna is an Aura Shaper.
"Better an ungifted servant than a dead Shaper," her mother told her again and again. She's not sure when she began to disagree, or when the need to know what she is and learn what she can do began to overwhelm her fear of discovery and death. What she does know is that she can't continue living the lie, and the only way she might survive is if the Quorum of Gifted grant her their protection.
Before she even manages to leave her backwater home town, she finds herself making friends with a remarkable horse named Blue and gets embroiled in a rescue mission that takes her in completely the wrong direction - right into the path of disciples of Nystrieth, the Emperor and self-proclaimed God who's ravaging the continent that lies across the Oestrieth Sea.
Please note that the Aura Shaper trilogy contains difficult themes and significant levels of violence. It is intended for adults only.
Karen MacRae is a British author who writes in British English. The Aura Shaper trilogy is dedicated to her friend, Ann Clark, who passed away much too early after a lifetime dedicated to healing others.
