Cup of Clay — Carole Nelson Douglas

Minnesota reporter Alison Carver finds herself in the Land of Veil, where beautiful streams run with poisoned water and glorious fields mask hideous decay. Here women are treated with great homage-and great disdain; here children are loved-except for those who are cast away.

Alison's only guide to Veil is Rowan, a quarrelsome hero on a quest for the Cup of Earth-a talisman that is won by song and song alone. But when Alison inadvertently plucks it from his grasp, her life, the lives of the Littlelost, and the life of the Land of Veil itself hang in the balance...