Nineteen-year-old orphan Hanna has survived the five years since she left Ethiopia for London by working illegally as a cleaner. But when tragedy strikes, her life almost comes to an abrupt end. Help arrives in a surprising form and Hanna is warmly welcomed into an unconventional new family: a school for human recruits to the Shantivira, the alien space station which secretly protects the Earth from extra-terrestrial invasion.

Lucy, an automotive engineer from the UK, is riding on Dartmoor when a strange being appears out of the mist and offers her the chance to train as a pilot on the Shantivira. Unnerved, Lucy’s instinct is to refuse. But then she is approached by representatives of an organisation claiming the Shantivira’s motives are more sinister, and they persuade her to become their spy.

As Hanna and Lucy each discover more about the Shantivira and the aliens behind it, they must examine their loyalties and make the right decisions to protect their respective loved ones – and the Earth.

This imaginative blend of fantasy and science fiction uses multiple protagonists to explore the gap between our society in the twenty-first century and what it needs to become – if we want to still be here in the thirty-first century. A must-read for fans of Celtic folklore, Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin, Nnedi Okorafor, Douglas Adams and Doctor Who.