COME FALL IN LOVE WITH A MAGICAL AMERICATHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. . . From the 18th century into the early years of the 19th, Americans traveling to find new homes and new lands crossed the Appalachian Mountains and moved across the Northwest Territory, spreading west to the banks of the great river. Using the lore and the folk-magic of the men and women who settled a continent, and the beliefs of the tribes who were there before them, Orson Scott Card has created an alternate frontier America. Young Alvin is the seventh son of a seventh son. Such a birth is a powerful magic, such a boy is destined to become something great, perhaps even a Maker. At the age of six Alvin doesn't seem to have any special talents at all; unless it's the knack he has of working with stone and wood, crafting tools and ornaments; unless it's his ability to paint a hex just right; unless it's the way he has with animals. Yes, Alvin is something special, and even in the loving safety of his home, dark forces reach out to destroy him. Something will do anything to keep Alvin from growing up.