Books with author Donna Berger

Wanildra Offley, a young widow, finds something washed up on the beach of Pandor Sound as she sits on a rock at dusk. She is grieving for the death of her beloved husband a year earlier in the terrible war with the Province of Quarlon. Thinking to perform a kind deed and save the life of the creature by pushing it back in the water, she is shocked to find, not a sea creature, but a young girl thrashing about on the wet sand. She is totally naked except for a blue pendent around her neck. After visiting with her friend, King Tristan Gulliam, a month log search is conducted throughout every community on Pandor Isle. After the month, no family claims to have lost a daughter by the description of the young girl. King Gulliam awards the young girl to Wanildra to raise with her two children Kelwin, age twelve, and Karci, age four. During the month that Wanildra is watching the girl, she and her two children are surprised to learn that she has no language skills and does not understand them. After some time of gesturing they finally learn that her name is Linada. Fast forwarding four years, Linada is about twelve years old, has learned the local language and has become a loved member of the Offley family. At the Fall Harvest Festival, a handsome stranger, James KIllion, shows up and offers to help the family set up their booth. Wanildra works for a local bakery and during the festival he helps them sell their bakery products. After the festival he is invited to the Offley home for the evening meal to help repay his kindness. The children stay behind to tear down the booth and clean up. When they arrive back at their cottage they are horrified to find that the handsome stranger is not who he claimes to be. He is actually the Master Wizard of Quarlon, Gryndahl. He has been sent to Pandor City by King Landimorge of Quarlon to exact revenge on the family of the man who had killed his only son in battle. That man was Rynlyn Offley, the late husband of Wanildra. Gryndahl has cast a spell on Wanildra and has encased her in an evil block of ice. He is about to cast a spell on the three Offley children to turn them into pigs. Linada, who had just won the rock throwing contest at the festival, uses her throwing skills and grabs a heavy wooden bowl and throws it at Gryndahl stricking him in the head. As Gryndahl slumps to the floor, Linada leads Kelwin and Karci out of the cottage to try and escape. Kelwin wants to run into Pandor City for help, but Linada realizes that it is too far and Gryndahl will probably come to and come after them before they reach town. She bravely leads her brother and sister into the feared Kyrene Forest. The Forest is off limits to everyone in Pandor City. It is the home of the cruel Half deer and half human Kyrene creatures. Kelwin and Karci resist going into the Kyrene Forest, but Linada knows it is their only hope of eluding Gryndahl, and she runs off the path to Pandor City and dashes into the forest. Kelwin and Karci, filled with fear, have no choice but to follow Linada. Linada leads her brother and sister on an inceredible dangerous journey through the foest. Can she possibly manage to lead her brother and sister to elude the evil wizard, not be either captured or killed by the Kyrene and somehow be able to return to her cottage and help reverse the evil spell on her beloved mother. That becomes her quest, and using her strong faith in God and a healthy dose of courage and cunning, she manages to accomplish the impossible; but at a huge cost, even her very life.