Page "Rocannon's World" Paragraph 2

The novel begins with a prologue called " Semley's Necklace ", which was first published as a stand-alone story titled " Dowry of the Angyar " in Amazing Stories ( September 1964 ).

A young woman named Semley takes a space voyage from her unnamed, technologically primitive planet to a museum to reclaim a family heirloom, not realizing that, while the trip will be of short duration for her, many years will elapse on her planet.

She returns to find her daughter grown up and her husband dead.