The Sterkarms have plundered the border between Scotland and England for generations. Suddenly intruders, calling themselves Elves, want the Sterkarms to stop their violent ways. The Elves, time travelers from the 21st century, have found a way back to the 16th century and plan to do their own plundering of the land's rich natural resources. Their only mistake is foolishly underestimating the Sterkarms themselves. For Andrea Mitchell, an anthropologist working among the Sterkarms, none of this matters. In love with Per—a young Sterkarm warrior—and feted as a beautiful Elf-May, she's never known such happiness in her own time. But when Per receives a deadly injury, Andrea's decision to take him into the 21st century to save him has explosive results. Per, seeing how powerful and destructive the Elves truly are, swears to keep them from his land forever. And in the bloody battle that ensues, Andrea must finally choose whose side she is on. The Sterkarm Handshake is a stirring tale of a clash of two cultures, beautifully told by master storyteller Susan Price. Books for the Teen Age 2001 (NYPL)

Andrea Mitchell has never felt as if she belongs in the 21st century. She's too fat, too clumsy, and too plain. So when she's offered the chance to take the Time Tube back to the 16th century—and back to Per, the young Sterkarm warrior she fell in love with once before—she doesn't hesitate. The lovely, boisterous, and crude Sterkarms have always made her feel welcome and at home. Maybe this time she'll even stay for good. But things on the 16th side are not what Andrea expected them to be. Per doesn't know who she is, and a wedding between the Sterkarms and their enemies, the Grannams, ends in bloodshed and confusion. Even when Andrea discovers it's the Elves who have betrayed them all, no one wants to believe her. She may have made the biggest—and the deadliest—mistake of her life. In this blistering sequel to her award-winning the sterkarm handshake, Susan Price weaves a riveting tale of revenge, deceit, and love, set against a backdrop of warring clans and brutal passions.

The sixteenth-century Sterkarms are legendary warriors known for their cunning and strength—but what will happen when time travel sets them up to battle their counterparts in an epic final clash? James Windsor—leader of FUP, the twenty-first-century megacorporation that created a tunnel back to the past called the Time Tube—has no intention of giving up his plan to pillage resources from pristine sixteenth-century Scotland. Unfortunately for Windsor, the Sterkarm clan, who will do anything to protect their lands from invaders, continues to stand in his way. But if Windsor's modern-day mercenaries, with their technology, rifles, and rocket launchers, can't beat the primitive Sterkarm warriors, who can? And who could possibly understand the wild Scottish moors and the clan's brutal ways better than the Sterkarms themselves? When FUP opens up a new portal, two universes of Sterkarms are pitted against each other, but anthropologist Andrea Mitchell—originally sent back in time by FUP to study the clan—will risk her life to save Per, the warrior she loves, and the community she has grown to call home. And when both sets of Sterkarms become wary of the twenty-first-century “Elves,” who shake on promises of friendship with one hand and commit murder with the other, they know there is only one way to protect their futures: join with the Grannams, and with each other, to destroy the tunnel, preventing the Elves from returning ever again.