Fantasy Masterwork of the Week: The Falling Woman

We cannot hope to match the insight or depth of knowledge Kev McVeigh exhibited in last week’s From the Attic post, so we’re not even going to try. We will simply say that our current Masterwork of the Week is Pat Murphy‘s Nebula Award-winning The Falling Woman.  And you should go read it.

THE FALLING WOMAN

Elizabeth Waters, an archaeologist who abandoned her husband and daughter years ago to pursue her career, can see the shadows of the past. It’s a gift she keeps secret from her colleagues and students, one that often leads her to incredible archaeological discoveries – and the terrible suspicion that she might be going mad.

Then on a dig in the Yucatan, the shadow of a Mayan priestess speaks to her. Suddenly Elizabeth’s daughter Diane arrives, hoping to reconnect with her mother. As Elizabeth, her daughter and the priestess fall into the mysterious world of Mayan magic, it is clear one of them will be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice . . .

The Falling Woman is available as a Fantasy Masterworks paperback and an SF Gateway eBook.  You can find many of the titles mentioned above via Pat Murphy’s author page on the SF Gateway, and read more about her in her entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.