This has remained a firm favourite over the years, and I was almost afraid to re-read it because it holds so much memory of being a good read.
Menolly lost her ally in her hold when the old harper, Petiron died. He encouraged her music in the face of gender expectations and her father's indifference to music. She keeps fighting for access to music even after her hand is badly cut and eventually can see nothing else but to run away from the hold where what awaits her will change her life forever.
It's a cool story, I know how much rehab she faced, my sister went through it and while you knew in your heart of hearts that you would never be a dragonrider, this book offered the idea that teaching and music were noble pursuits and that maybe, just maybe you could find a fire lizard.
The biography, amusingly for me, notes that she can knit an Arran (sic) sweater in ten days.
