In this book, originally published after her bestselling
debut with the Wideacre trilogy, New York Times
bestselling author Philippa Gregory takes readers to Henry
VIII's England, on a journey to the outer reaches of
passion, where magic and female power meet.
Alys joins a
nunnery to escape the poverty of her life on the moor with
her foster mother, Morach, the local wise woman with whom
she lives as an outcast, but she soon finds herself thrown
back into the world when Henry VIII's wreckers destroy her
sanctuary. Summoned to the castle as the old lord's scribe,
she falls obsessively in love with his son Hugo, who is
married to Catherine. Driven to desperation by her desire,
she summons the most dangerous powers Morach has taught her,
but soon the passionate triangle of Alys, Hugo, and
Catherine begins to explode, launching them into uncharted
sexual waters. The magic Alys has conjured now has a life of
its own -- a life that is horrifyingly and disastrously out
of control.
Is she a witch? Since heresy means the stake,
and witchcraft the rope, Alys is in mortal danger, treading
a perilous path between her faith and her own female power.