Normandy. 1067. England has been brought to its knees by the invasion of William the Conqueror and his Norman troops. Lady Catheryn, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, is taken against her will to Normandy after the invasion. She arrives, a prisoner, at the castle of Lord Geffrei, a ruthless invader who hopes to gain a ransom for her. Her husband Selwyn is dead, slain in the Conquest, and her daughter Annis has been left behind in England at the mercy of the invaders. Catheryn is treated like an animal, and left in a cell until she begins to despair. When Queen Matilda, William the Conqueror's wife,...

Anglo-Saxon England. Having built a rich empire and keen to win the favour of the royal court, Hilda and AElfgard have little time for their daughter, Catheryn. But one man, Selwyn, is intrigued by the intelligent and high-spirited girl. Selwyn sends Catheryn a love letter as a joke, disguising it as though it is from one of her father's thanes. Catheryn is fascinated by the letter, and cannot imagine who would be capable of sending a poem of such imagination and beauty. When Selwyn offers to help Catheryn identify the mysterious suitor, she accepts, and they start to realise that they have...