The men of the Holdfast had long treated with contempt the degenerated creatures known as "fems." To give themselves the drive to survive and reconquer the world, the men needed a common enemy. Superstitious belief had ascribed to the fems the guilt for the terrible Wasting that had destroyed the world. They were the ideal scapegoat. The truth was lost in death and decay and buried in history. It was going to be a long journey back...

Alldera had risked her life to escape the Holdfast, where men ruled fems in a bestial society based on fear. She had followed a whisper: the legend of the free fems who lived without masters. Instead, she had found the Motherline Tribes. The proud Riding Women who bred without men, the dark-laughing warriors who dared her to be free!

The Fems were slaves of the men in the Holdfast. When Alldera escaped her slavery, she led a band of rebels to build a world where women rule. In Book One of the Holdfast Chronicles, Walk to the End of the World, Aldera the Messenger, along with all other women, is a slave. In Book Two, Motherlines, Aldera the Runner lives in two worlds, both consisting entirely of women. Now In Book Three, The Furies, Aldera the Conqueror leads an army back over the mountains, hoping to end the tyranny and free the salves she left behind.

25 years after the landmark publication of Walk to the End of the World, Suzy McKee Charnas has completed her epic tale of the Holdfast. The Fems were slaves of the men in the Holdfast. When Alldera escaped her slavery, she led a band of rebels to build a world where women rule. Now Sorrel, Alldera's daughter, joins her mother. She brings with her a young boy she has adopted. The Conqueror's Child completes an epic history of life and love and the war between men and women which will stand for generations to come. Winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award