Kitane looks back at tribe members shouting from the beach. No matter. Peering into the water, she sees the shadow undulating deep below. An eater, and this one is a giant. What if people who lived forty thousand years ago had developed working partnerships with animals, and what if only one woman in each tribe could speak with them? Kitane belongs to a tribe living seaside in what is now Indonesia. Her life is in upheaval because the Speaker was killed and because of strange visitors, intrigue among the elders, and silence from the gods. Kitane knows she is the new Speaker, and when the tribe refuses to recognize her, she knows she must act. And courageously.