The young man and the lion regarded each other.

After the flood of eight thousand years ago, Téra and four friends travel up the Danube to become the great founders of a new village. By high summer one of the girls is dead, and grief and blame are tearing the company apart. Their boats break in the rapids and strangers pull them from the water. Above the river, the lion’s cave is death, or the gate to the Garden of Eden.

River-people who carve fish-faced stones offer a life beside the water. In the hills, a headman called Snake offers a bright future to those who will serve him. Behind the myths of the river-girl, the temptress and the lion-man are real people: Vára of the river, Héva of the field, and Téra of the forest.

The story is echoed in a cycle of songs in two rebuilt ancient languages. From children’s laughter to the law of fear, this historical fantasy feels like recovered memory, told in a voice that lets ancient tongues sing again.

In the Day of the Lion is book 2 of the Four Lights series. For readers of Jean Auel, Madeline Miller and William Golding.