Legends of humanoid races have always persisted in the lore of humanity and these other manlike species have been given such names as gnome and sprite and centaur. Superstition has invested them with magic and mystery. Mystery, yes, but where there's so much smoke, was there not fire? And perhaps such not-quite-human races did exist at the dawn of human history!

The marvel-tipped pen of Thomas Burnett Swann presents a brilliant, fantastic novel of such races and their impact upon humanity. In the time of the Etruscans, the half-forgotten civilization that preceded Rome, did there still dwell such creatures as the Weir Folk of The Weirwoods? This new novel spins unforgettable tale the weir-man Vel, his captor, the Etrurian princess Tanaquil, the human adventurer, Arnth, and the web-footed weir witch Vegoia - a novel of the clash of alien minds at the world's awakening.