Autumn 1196. A badly injured stranger reaches New Winnowlands, and Sir Josse d’Acquin suspects that he is a returning crusader. Josse takes him to Hawkenlye for treatment, but the man refuses to explain who he is or why dangerous pursuers seem to be closing in behind him.
As the stranger’s past emerges, the investigation reaches beyond Kent to unfinished business from the crusading world. Abbess Helewise and Josse must separate the consequences of war from present-day murder, while the novel explores what returning soldiers carried home in the form of wounds, secrets, loyalties and enemies.
