Preview of The Rowan Summary:

McCaffrey explores the Rowan's alienation on two fronts. First, she illustrates the loneliness of excellence and great power; this is often stated in the truism, "it's lonely at the top." In the top of her Tower, the Rowan wields such psychic and telekinetic power that, in the hierarchy of the Talented, she is tapped as the successor to the current leader, Peter Reidinger. Additionally, while those who work with her respect her professionalism and kindness, they also feel her emotional isolation. This loneliness, this sense of being different from other young women of her age, also lends itself to the romance that best describes this novel. The novel is a romance about a young woman yearning for the love of her life and, as an orphan, the fulfillment she expects from family ties. As the Rowan exclaims: "Someday it would be nice to have something who loved me...