This is the story of two women who break the rules. The first is a Bronze Age princess whose remains were found preserved in the permafrost in the Altai Mountains. She is a Shamanka, a traveller through time, but her gifts come with a price. She is dominated by The Raven, the ruler of the Pazyrck spiritual world. The second woman is Claire Perry, an education officer at the City Museum. When Claire is sent to Novosibirsk to catalogue artefacts for a forthcoming exhibition on shamanic art she begins to believe that the Ice Maiden has requested her to undertake an impossible task. She steals one of the artefacts, the Ice Maiden’s shamanic mirror.

On a trek to the Altai Mountains Claire doubts her mission. Why has she been chosen and what is the purpose of the mirror? And why does she keep dreaming about ravens?

REVIEWS:

I liked the structure as it moved between the modern day story and the ancient one, both of them walking a hard path.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did, as I have no interest in archeology. However that's not a main theme of this page-turning novel. As the story unfolded I was reading it & becoming totally immersed. Great ending too. A great read :)

I could not put Ice Maiden down! I am always a sucker for stories about early people, their motivations and privations in cold or inhospitable landscapes.