The Obernewtyn Chronicles - Book One For Elspeth Gordie freedom is-like so much else after the Great White-a memory. It was a time known as the Age of Chaos. In a final explosive flash everything was destroyed. The few who survived banded together and formed a Council for protection. But people like Elspeth-mysteriously born with powerful mental abilities-are feared by the Council and hunted down like animals...to be destroyed. Her only hope for survival to is keep her power hidden. But is secrecy enough against the terrible power of the Council?

A Children's Book Council of Australia Honor Book In this powerful sequel to Obernewtyn, young Elspeth Gordie-possessed of extraordinary mental powers-has united with others Misfits for refuge on the remote mountain keep of Obernewtyn. Yet the threat from the totalitarian Council to their safety is ever present. Their only defense is to work hard to develop their mental powers before an inevitable confrontation. But when Elspeth is lured off the mountain in a dangerous quest to rescue a powerful Misfit, the fate of the Obernewtyn colony will hang in the balance.

The powerful farseeker Elspeth Gordie is sent to Sutrium, seat of the totalitarian council that rules the Land, to seal an alliance between the secret Misfit community at Obernewtyn and rebel forces.

'Look out,' I screamed. The flying creature lashed out and I stared in horror at Rushton's bloodied arm. Maruman leapt between us in his tyger form. 'Let me go to him!' I screamed. 'He is in a dream but the beast is not. It comes! Wake!' After a kidnapping, Elspeth Gordie and the Misfits are forced to join the rebellion against the oppressive Council, using their extraordinary mind powers. But Elspeth must also seek out clues left by the long-dead seer, Kasanda, vital to her quest to destroy the Beforetime weaponmachines. One clue is lost in the past, forcing Elspeth to travel the Dreamtrails, stalked by a terrifying winged beast, with the cat, Maruman, as her guide and guardian. Only there can she learn more of the Beforetimer Misfits and their enemy, Govamen. Gradually Elspeth realises her quest is intimately linked to the Misfits' refuge, Obernewtyn - its past and its future...

With the end of the wintertime that isolates Obernewtyn from the rest of the world, Farseeker guildmistress Elspeth Gordie again sets out for the lowlands. But she soon finds that not everyone welcomes the changes brought about by the rebellion. There is a traitor among the rebels—a traitor whose hatred of Misfits puts Elspeth in danger as she attempts to thwart an invasion of fanatical Herders.

Friend becomes foe and trust is a thing of the past when the Misfits’ most relentless enemy turns Elspeth’s world upside down. Through coercion and mind control, Ariel stands on the cusp of his ultimate revenge—and it falls to Elspeth to rescue a former ally whose mind and body have been manipulated to unleash a plague that will destroy all it touches.

Once shunned as a Misfit for the powers that set her apart, Elspeth Gordie has finally found happiness and love. But when she receives the long-awaited summons to begin her final quest, she must slip out in the night and leave all that she loves behind without saying a single goodbye. Elspeth sets off across the toxic Blacklands with the help of a pack of mutant wolves to find the ancient weapons that once loosed chaos and death upon the world. Those weapons have begun to stir...

Librarian Note: The Waking Dragon is the title of the North America-only book. It is the second half of the original Australian "The Sending". The final book in Australia (Book 7) is "The Red Queen". The future North American version of "The Red Queen" will be book 9.

The adventure continues with acclaimed fantasy author Isobelle Carmody's The Rebellion, an omnibus edition of books three and four in the dystopian fantasy the Obernewtyn Chronicles—Ashling and The Keeping Place! Elspeth must turn her attention to the erupting bloodshed of the rebellion and lead her friends through the Battlegames—a series of deadly contests that run between dawn and dusk on a single day. When Rushton, the Master of Obernewtyn and Elspeth's love, is kidnapped, will she be willing to pay the price for his life?

When Farseeker Guildmistress Elspeth Gordie sets out from Obernewtyn to travel to Sutrium at the end of wintertime, she quickly learns that not everyone welcomes the changes brought about by the rebellion. Captured by an old and vicious enemy, she is drawn deep into the heart of the Herder Faction, where she learns of a terrible plot to destroy the west coast. To stop it, Elspeth must risk everything, knowing that if she dies, she will never complete her quest to find the weaponmachines that destroyed the Beforetime. But if she succeeds, her journey will lead her to the last of the signs left for her by the seer Kasanda... Librarian's note: Penguin Australia is publishing the Obernewtyn Chronicles in six books, and The Stone Key is book five. In the United States and Canada this series is published by Random House in eight books; this Penguin Australia book is split into two parts and published as Wavesong (Book Five) and The Stone Key (Book Six).