The Rowan is the title and main character of a book by Anne McCaffrey. The Rowan was, at age three, the lone survivor of a mudslide in a mining camp (The Rowan Mining Co-operative) on the colony planet Altair. Trapped in a small vehicle, her trauma brings out her native psychic Talent, and her cries for help are heard by every Talented person on the planet, and she is rescued, but cannot remember her name or anything about her family. She is raised as a ward of the state and trained in telepathy and telekinesis, for she has enough mental power to work as a Prime, the chief Talent at a Tower, a psychic shipping facility. Eventually she is posted to her own Tower at Callisto moon near Jupiter, and has been working there for ten lonely years when a strong psychic cry for help is heard from Deneb, a colony planet with no Tower, from Jeff Raven, a wild talent of great strength - for Deneb is under attack by the Hivers, beetle-like aliens hellbent on colonizing new worlds - annihilating existing life on them if necessary. With The Rowan's help, he repels them and they are married. Aw, how sweet.

It's typical McCaffrey - good story, middling execution. An entertaining, light read. There are four sequels: Damia, Damia's Children, Lyon's Pride, and The Tower and the Hive.