Cat Ashdale leaves home to search for her lost father and ends up preventing a war between her country and its neighbour. Linda Smith returns—building on the success of her earlier Freyan books—with a compelling new trilogy filled with adventure, colour, and a wondrous fantasy world where magic is a fact of everyday life. Fifteen-year-old Catrina (Cat) needs to find Gayland Bellmore, the wandering musician father she hasn't seen in twelve years. Her mother is marrying a man on a neighbouring farm, and Cat doesn't think she'll fit into this new arrangement. A magician's finding spell locates Gayland in the city of Freyfall. Selling her beautiful flute for passage, Cat sails to Freyfall, but cannot find him there. Desperate to find her father, Cat again tries to consult a wizard. But the wizard is away, leaving only his apprentice, Garth Spellman. Garth's finding spell goes awry and he changes Cat into a tawny cat - with no idea how to change her back. In their search for Cat's father, and for a way to change Cat back into a girl, they discover a plot to assassinate the Queen of Freya and start a war with the country's neighbour, Uglessia. Because they're the only people who can stop it, the two are drawn together in a desperate struggle to prevent tragedy. Linda Smithpublished three novels with Coteau in the "Tales of Three Lands" trilogy: The Minstrel's Daughter, Talisa's Song, and The Weathermage. She also produced the best-selling fantast title The Broken Thread. She published several children's pictures books, and poetry and short fiction in literary periodicals.