This is one of my favorites! Picked it up today at a used bookstore.

Since the flames died three hundred years ago, human civilization has evolved into a dual society: Women's Country, where walled towns enclose what's left of past civilization, nurtured by women and a few nonviolent men; and the adjacent garrisons where warrior men live -- the lost brothers, sons, and lovers of those in Women's Country.

Two societies. Two competing dreams. Two ways of life, kept apart by walls stronger than stone. And yet there is a gate between them....

Mailed off to Ulrika in Europe, who may or may not be a BCer.

The book took its time but I finally got it. This is one of my favorite books by a favorite author. When she writes good she writes very, very good (but when she writes badly she is very very dull). This book will replace the rather battered one that I already own and have read to pieces.