Daughter of the Sun
by Barbara Wood

List Price: $13.95
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0312363680
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

A stunning historical novel of intrigue, seduction, murder, and mystery, set in a glittering and opulent era.

Hoshi'tiwa is 17 years old, a member of an unnamed clan in what will, centuries later, become New Mexico. Her life is simple --- she is a corn grower's daughter and she will soon marry a storyteller's apprentice. Until she is captured by the powerful and violent ruler of Center Place, a legendary city of untold wealth and unspeakable violence. Suddenly, Hoshi'tawa must negotiate the ways of the Dark Lord's court without losing her knowledge of herself or her clan. She will gather what power she can, and discover a forbidden love with the one man who has the ability to destroy her at will. Bestselling author Barbara Wood has written a novel of an extraordinary woman drawn into a world of violence, passion, gods, and sacrifice.

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1. Historians and archaeologists still do not know why Chaco Canyon was abandoned. The drought in Daughter of the Sun is one theory. Can you think of other reasons a people would pick up and abandon a thriving settlement, never to return?

2. The Toltecs and the People of the Sun did not believe that anything happened by accident. Everything is part of a great cosmic design and we can read our fate in the stars. Does this still leave room for free will?

3. If you had access to a time machine and you could visit any period or event in the North American past -- but only one -- what would you choose, and why?

4. What is the significance of dreams in Daughter of the Sun? Do they foretell the future? Do they bring messages from the gods/God, as Lord Jakál believed? Or are they merely the random misfirings of a sleepy brain?

5. What was the purpose of the Anasazi roads? The people of Chaco Canyon did not have beasts of burden, they did not have the wheel. So why did they need wide, straight highways?

6. Regarding White Orchid’s secret adoption: Why is bloodline so important? Can love make up for not being related to one’s parent? How important is it to know where one came from?

7. Hoshi’tiwa was willing to die for her beliefs. Is there anything you would give your life for? And how is self-sacrifice different from the human sacrifice described in the book?

8. The final battle in the book is sparked by a single act of defiance -- a person from the crowd throws a rock. A simple gesture producing profound consequences. Can you think of a time in history when other such simple acts had such a powerful influence?

9. Hoshi’tiwa believes that nothing dies, that there is constant change in the universe. When a person dies, he or she is not lost but joins the stars, the rocks, and all life. What do you think?

10. Hoshi’tiwa’s mother tells her she “was born to a special purpose.” Are we all born for a special purpose? If we believe this, then how does this tie in with the belief in a cosmic Oneness, that all things are connected, that we are part of a universal design and that nothing happens by accident?

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