One child holds the key to peace. One man will stop at nothing to silence her …Ariana Franklin’s final, brilliant standalone novel, left incomplete at the time of her death, now finished by her daughter.

‘An absorbing re-creation of the 12th Century … this is a fast-moving story of humbler folk caught up in cruel battles’ The Independent

‘Original, atmospheric and genuinely moving … captures the imagination and does not let go’ Giles Kristian

It’s 1141 and freezing cold.

Gwil, a battle-hardened mercenary, is horrified to stumble across a little girl close to death. She has been attacked, just one more victim in a winter of atrocities. Clutching a sliver of parchment, she is terrified - but Gwil knows what he must do. He will bring her back to life. He will train her to fight. And together, they will hunt down the man who did this to her.

But danger looms wherever they turn. As castle after castle falls victim to siege, the icy Fens ring with rumours of a madman, of murder - and of a small piece of parchment with a terrible secret to tell, the cost of which none of them could have imagined …