The peace of Hawkenlye Abbey is disturbed when the newly arrived Sister Alba brings her two younger, recently orphaned sisters from Ely. Abbess Helewise distrusts Alba’s harsh and turbulent manner, but her attention is divided when Sir Josse d’Acquin is brought to the abbey dangerously ill with blood poisoning.
A body is then discovered and one of the sisters disappears, forcing Helewise to travel to Ely and investigate the family history Alba has tried to leave behind. The case turns on the precarious position of orphaned girls, the authority of religious houses and a carefully constructed network of lies concealed beneath an appearance of piety.
