Keladry of Mindelan has returned to the royal palace of Tortall, where she fights to maintain the rigorous regimen of a page while confronting the prejudices that come with being a female in a man's world. And if that isn't hard enough, she's also starting to get something suspiciously like a crush on her closest friend, the handsome and sarcastic Neal.
Yet Kel has much to be grateful for as well: a loyal circle of friends, an ill-tempered but lovable horse, and a scruffy dog who would give his life for her. Then one day, a group of pages is trapped by bandits, and the boys depend on Kel to lead them. Could it be a sign of things to come? Suddenly those in power are looking at Kel in a whole new way, wondering if she can succeed far beyond what they imagined.
The Protector of the Small quartet is set in the same world as the Song of the Lioness and The Immortals series.
Author Biography
Tamora Pierce is a bestselling, much-loved author, perhaps best known for her Song of the Lioness quartet. She worked as a social worker for teenagers and wrote for radio before publishing Alanna: The First Adventure in 1983. Since then she has written over twenty-five novels for young people, is a New York Times bestseller and was awarded the 2013 Margaret A Edwards award for ‘significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature’. Tamora lives in New York with her husband Tim and their three cats and two birds.