In this companion novel following the Oregon Book Award-winning Blue Thread, Ruth Tenzer Feldman once again weaves a tale full of history, culture, and fantasy. Hope Friis has struggled with a severe stutter her entire life. As the 1960s Free Speech Movement gains ground in her hometown of Berkeley, California, Hope embarks on a journey back in time—guided by her time-traveling ancestor, Serakh—to the city of Paris, circa 1099 A.D. Her mission: to save the newborn son of the young woman, Dolcette, and find the courage to become a young woman of strength and conviction.

The women's suffrage movement is in full swing in 1912 Portland, Oregon—the last holdout state on the West Coast. Miriam desperately wants to work at her father's printing shop, but when he refuses she decides to dedicate herself to the suffrage movement, demanding rights for women and a different life for herself. Amidst the uncertainty of her future, Miriam's attention is diverted by the mysterious Serakh, whose sudden, unexplained appearances and insistent questions lead Miriam to her great-grandmother's Jewish prayer shawl—and to her destiny. With this shawl, Miriam is taken back in time to inspire the Daughters of Zelophehad, the first women in Biblical history to own land. Miriam brings the strength and courage of these women with her forward in time, emboldening her own struggles and illuminating what it means to be an independent woman.