Barbara Cohen

The weather was terrible. A smothering mist had hung in the air for days. Rain or even snow would be better, Nikki thought. She was riding on a dreary train, going to visit a grandmother she did not want to see, who really did not want to see her. It was the general helplessness of the situation that made her willing to listen to Sam, the extraordinarily handsome young man who sat down next to her, when he invited her home to dinner - to his family's place. Even before they reached Sam's home, Nikki knew she had got mixed up in something strange. First of all, while they were waiting at the train station for his brother to pick them up, Sam saved an old couple from a gang that was out for a night's fun, beating them up with chains and belts. No one did things like that; you defended only yourself. The home was odd too; out in the country - an animal farm of all things. And something was going on that Nikki didn't understand. It had to do with the weather and the animals, with the rain that wasn't going to stop and an ark. All of which sounded silly. Nikki knew her world was a deadly one - every person seeking his own pleasure and safety. But could it all be going to disappear as these people said. Were they crazy, or should everyone have built and ark? Nikki wasn't sure until she met the unicorns, and even then it was almost too late.

In an ancient Arab nation, one woman dares to be different. Buran cannot—Buran will not—sit quietly at home and wait to be married to the man her father chooses. Determined to use her skills and earn a fortune, she instead disguises herself as a boy and travels by camel caravan to a distant city. There, she maintains her masculine disguise and establishes a successful business. The city's crown prince comes often to her shop, and soon Buran finds herself falling in love. But if she reveals to Mahmud that she is a woman, she will lose everything she has worked for.