Dimensions
114 x 175 x 19mm
November, in the year of our Lord 1145, and the bitter rift between King Stephen and Empress Maud at last has a chance for reconciliation. With both sides pondering the wisdom of further conflict, they agree that a council should take place. It is hoped that the meeting will at least resolve the question of prisoners of war, a number of whom were taken following the shocking defection to the King's cause of Philip, younger son of the Earl of Gloucester.
Brother Cadfael, ensconced in his herb garden at the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, seeks leave to attend the crucial meeting. For he has learned that among the prisoners is one Oliver de Bretagne, a young man who calls upon loyalties higher even than Cadfael's monastic vows. As Cadfael observes, "Before I was a brother I was a father"; and his determination to come to his son's aid prompts a perplexing investigation of a uniquely personal nature.
