"Thoroughly imagined and vividly described, this novel is a gripping saga, a love story, and a convincing portrait of a time and people lost to history."
—Christina Baker Kline, #1 bestselling author of Orphan Train and The Exiles

"Set against the unfolding drama of an ancient warring tribe of the Asian steppes, the novel captures both the mystery of love and the majesty of the human spirit."
—Cathy Marie Buchanan, New York Times bestselling author of Daughter of Black Lake and The Painted Girls

"If you love Madeline Miller’s Circe, you must read Akmaral. Lindbergh delivers a breathtaking story filled with vivid characters, haunted landscapes, powerful battle scenes, and a love story you will not soon forget."
—Laurir Lico Albanese, award-winning author of Hester

"Akmaral transported me, night after page-turning night, to a world I would never have been able to experience otherwise, an unforgettable wind-swept world before the dawn of patriarchy."
—Barbara Quick, author of Vivaldi’s Virgins and What Disappears

"Written with a wild poetry, the author brings to life a strong woman and her unforgettable story amid stark cliffs and green pastures, guided by a mystical exiled old woman and the ghost of her lost best friend. Akmaral is magic."
—Stephanie Cowell, American Book Award recipient and author of Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet and The Boy in the Rain

Before the Silk Road had a name, nomads roamed the Asian steppes and women fought side by side as equals with men. Like all women of the Sauromatae, Akmaral is bound for battle from birth, training as a girl in horsemanship, archery, spear, and blade. Her prowess ignites the jealousy of Erzhan, a gifted warrior who hates her as much as he desires her. When Scythian renegades attack, the two must unite to defeat them. Among their captives is Timor, the rebels’ enigmatic leader who refuses to be broken, even as he is enslaved. He fascinates Akmaral. But as attraction grows to passion, she is blinded to the dangerous alliance forming between the men who bristle against the clan’ s matriarchal rule. Faced with brutal betrayal, Akmaral must find the strength to defend her people and fulfill her destiny. Drawn from legends of Amazon women warriors from ancient Greece and recent archaeological discoveries in Central Asia, AKMARAL is a sweeping tale about a powerful woman who must make peace with making war.

Judith Lindbergh's debut novel, The Thrall's Tale, about three women in the first Viking Age settlement in Greenland, was a Booksense (IndieBound) Pick, a Borders Original Voices Selection and praised by Pulitzer Prize winners Geraldine Brooks and Robert Olen Butler. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including in Newsweek, Zibby Magazine, Next Avenue, Writer's Digest, Edible Jersey, Literary Mama, Archaeology Magazine, Other Voices, and UP HERE: The North at the Center of the World published by University of Washington Press. She also contributed to the Smithsonian Institution's exhibition Vikings: The Norse Atlantic Saga and was an expert commentator on the History Channel's documentary series MANKIND: The Story of All of Us. Judith is the Founder/Director of The Writers Circle, a New Jersey-based creative writing center where she regularly teaches aspiring and accomplished writers from ages 8-80.