Bampton, 1377. Hugh and Kate bring their newborn son to church for baptism only to discover that the locked font is completely dry. A leak is ruled out, suggesting that someone deliberately removed the holy water. Before Hugh can understand why, Father Robert is found badly injured near the rood screen. The apparently sacrilegious theft and the attack seem connected, but the motive remains obscure as Hugh works through clues inside a community already under economic strain.
That strain comes from Parliament’s new poll tax, which requires payments from people above a specified age and creates opportunities for fraud and exploitation among those struggling to raise cash. The novel places its local mystery at the end of Edward III’s long reign, and the king’s death forms part of the changing political background. Taxation, parish ritual and household anxiety therefore meet in a story that shows how national decisions were felt at village level. Hugh’s investigation remains practical, but the world around Bampton is beginning to move towards the unsettled reign of the young Richard II.
