The Gate to Women’s Country

by Sheri S. Tepper

Tepper is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors! This is the second book I’ve read by her, and it also has the high quality writing, story and character development as Singer From the Sea.

In this novel, it is three hundred years after the Earth has gone through a devastating war. The society that has arisen from the devastation consists of cities behind walls governed by women and garrisons filled with men to protect each city. When a boy turns five, his mother brings him to the garrison to be raised by his warrior father. He returns to his mother’s house twice a year during carnival. Then at age fifteen he must decide whether to stay with the garrison or to return to the city through the Women’s Gate (only warriors are allowed to use the Warrior’s Gate). The men who return become servitors, they study and live in a women’s house assisting with the work.

We follow Stavia, daughter of a councilwoman and later a councilwoman herself. The story is told through flashbacks to Stavia’s childhood and early adulthood, as she becomes smitten and later hurt by a warrior. Interwoven into all of this is the tension building in the garrison — the warrior’s unrest and desire to take over the women’s city.

Excellent book. I again look forward to my next Tepper book.