McCaffrey finished Dragonquest, a sequel to the first Pern book, soon after her 1970 emigration to Ireland but she wrote several stories and a few books before completing the original Dragonriders trilogy.^[c] Writing The White Dragon did not really begin until 1974/75 after the New England Science Fiction Association invited her to its annual convention Boskone as Guest of Honor, which included the special publication of a small book for sale on site.^[d]

The market for young adults provided crucial opportunities while Dragonriders stalled. Editor Roger Elwood sought contributions of short work to anthologies and McCaffrey started the Pern story of Menolly for him, although in the end she delivered four 1973/74 stories that later became Crystal Singer.^[2] Editor Jean E. Karl, who had established the children's and science fiction imprints at Atheneum Books,^[3] sought to attract more female readers to science fiction and solicited "a story for young women in a different part of Pern". McCaffrey completed Menolly's story as Dragonsong and contracted for a sequel before it was out in 1976.^[4]

Having the arrangements with Atheneum in writing, McCaffrey was able to shop for a mortgage and buy a home, to be called 'Dragonhold' for the dragons who bought it.^[5] Twenty years later her son wrote that she "first set dragons free on Pern and then was herself freed by her dragons".^[6]

Like Crystal Singer, Dragonsong features a young woman with great musical talent. Beside fishing, its focus in Pernese society is the arts and education, in contrast to the military and political focus of the original trilogy. In this the action at Harper Hall rather than the Weyrs is akin to McCaffrey's own experience. At Radcliffe College, Harvard, she majored in Slavonic Languages and literature. From her teens through her thirties, before she turned to writing full-time, she pursued musical avocations: piano lessons, voice training and performance, and assisting in amateur production of musicals and operettas.^[7]

Taking place seven years after the events of Dragonflight, the book opens with Menolly, youngest daughter of Masterfisher Yanus, Sea Holder of Half-Circle Seahold,^[e] in the fictional world of Pern. Menolly, a gifted young musician, has been assisting the Hold's ailing Harper Petiron in his duties to educate the Hold's children. After Petiron's death, however, a new Harper arrives as his replacement. Menolly's parents forbid her to reveal that she has been teaching the children in the interim, believing that music and particularly teaching are not a woman's place. To conceal her former role from the new Harper, Menolly is not allowed to play, sing, or compose, and her parents severely punish her for doing so. Unbeknownst to Menolly or her parents, prior to his death Petiron sent several of Menolly's original compositions to Masterharper Robinton at Harper Hall, where Robinton is now frantic to locate this mysterious new composer, though unaware that the composer is female.

Frustrated and heartbroken, Menolly chooses to leave her Hold and live Holdless, a dangerous enterprise as flesh-eating Thread fall regularly on the area. She is entirely unaware that Masterharper Robinton has directed the new harper at Half-Circle Seahold to find the composer in order to train them as a Harper. Menolly finds a safe cave near the sea and makes it her new home. She also discovers a nest of the legendary fire-lizards, smaller versions of the giant dragons that defend Pern from Thread. She assists the fire-lizard queen in relocating her clutch to safety, thereby winning the creature's trust. Menolly is present when the clutch hatches and inadvertently Impresses nine hatchlings, forming a symbiotic, psychic bond with them and making herself responsible for their care. Feeding both her fire-lizards and herself is a full-time job, but Menolly is resourceful and content. She resumes her music and is delighted when her fire-lizards learn to harmonize with her songs.

One day while gathering food for her fire-lizards, Menolly is caught on the edge of Threadfall. She attempts to race the leading edge back to the safety of her cave, lacerating the soles of her feet in the effort. A passing dragonrider rescues her at the last second and takes her to Benden Weyr, which is full of guests in preparation for a dragon hatching. Menolly is shocked to find others at the Weyr have fire-lizards and that the creatures' discovery and potential has become a point of deep interest to dragonriders. When Menolly's nine fire-lizards come looking for her, Menolly reluctantly admits that she accidentally Impressed them all, thus becoming the center of attention.

Robinton, who is present at Benden for the Hatching, is intrigued that Menolly has taught her fire-lizards to sing. On the pretense of having Menolly show him her fire-lizards' ability, Robinton tricks her into performing one of the songs written by Petiron's mysterious apprentice, thus revealing that she is the composer. Menolly is overwhelmed when Robinton invites her to Harper Hall to become his apprentice and gladly accepts the offer.

Fixed gender roles make Menolly an outcast, as she is unskilled at tasks which are regarded as women's work on Pern and excels in the male-dominated field of music. She chooses to live alone in the dangerously unprotected world outside the Hold instead of allowing her natural talents to be suppressed.^[8]

The American Library Association in 1999 cited the two early Pern trilogies (Dragonriders and Harper Hall), along with The Ship Who Sang, when McCaffrey received the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "lifetime contribution in writing for teens".^[9]

Citations edit

Cited works edit

• Dragonsong title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database