Author(s): Lani Wendt Young

Young Adult | Aotearoa New Zealand

She is a girl torn between two worlds … Teenager Leila Folger escapes the stifling misery of life with her American grandmother and goes to Samoa searching to connect with her mother’s family. All her efforts to learn more about the mother shenever knew are met with hostility. What really happened eighteen years ago when his father fled the island with his infant daughter? Why is everyone afraid to even talk about the woman he once loved? What is a ‘telesa’ and why does the mention of her own name strike such fear in everyone Leila meets? Book 1 in the trilogy.

Nestled in the heart of the Pacific, Samoa is a lush tropical paradise. We walk to a different drum beat. Here, ancient mythology tells of Telesa. Demon women who are guardians of earth and gifted with the elemental powers of Air, Water and Fire.Telesa are vengeful and cruel.Tales to frighten children.Or are they more than that? From Washington D.C, comes Leila, in search of family,a place to belong. Instead she finds her destiny and it threatens to tear her apart. There is the bewitching call of a telesa sisterhood and there is Daniel. Will Leila embrace her birthright or will she choose the one who offers her his love with a crooked smile and dancing green eyes? Will Daniel be the element that gentles the fire of the Telesa? Or must love burn at the altar of the telesa covenant?