How old is old? What if the Beowulf assigned to be read in High School English classes is just the first written account of a much older story - a story that stretches back to the dawn of time?While Helen Bowie asks this question, Hrunting, daughter of Unferth, the mage of Heorot, lives it. Both women are content with their lives until a man enters and changes everything. Ben Wolf and Beowulf are two powerful men in two very different times. Each is a hero, with the power to change society, perhaps for the better, perhaps not.This dual narrator contemporary/historical novel spans 25,000 years. It asks the reader to consider who determines who is human and who is not: who stands outside society and who belongs at its center.