In a world decimated by disease, wisdom and scientific knowledge amassed by previous civilizations has been nearly forgotten and the once-promised bright future our forefathers wanted for us is long gone.In this new dark age, most of the population live in stone age-like conditions. Maricela Paz, a fifteen-year-old girl growing up in a backward fishing village on an island modeled after Cuba, reluctantly prepares for The Feast of Fifteens where she will be auctioned off to theHhidalgos and forced into concubinage.But Maricela is not like the other girls who obey and keep silent for fear of punishment. When she disobeys her father, she is sentenced to capital punishment. But Marciela manages to escape to the mysterious Island of Embras, where she meets Dunia, the 400-year-old Matriarca and keeper of the last library of books and scientific knowledge from more civilized times.Staring down the rotting mouth of a bleak future, Marciela must accept and embrace her truth. It wasn't an accident, her landing there. Marciela is the new Matriarca, who will restore the old civilization and bring balance back to the world.Empowered and in control, Marciela sets a course for home to make right the long-since wrongs imposed upon the women and girls of her village. Lord help anyone who gets in her way.