Roger Matthews is the Vicar of picturesque village, Little Stanton. He happily tends to his friendly flock and is almost ready to retire but his spirit is restless . . . Roger is pulled towards the slums of London, determined to help the poor and depraved, and arrives in fog-drenched Woodbank. But the people are as unfriendly as the weather, greeting him with slammed doors and suspicious eyes. After months of being ignored, a chance drunken encounter and an abandoned Boat House finally offer hope.

Lord Swayne owned a well-protected castle on a particularly strategic stretch of the English coast. A powerful Earl with estates nearby coveted the castle and its surrounding land. Under the guise of protecting King John from treachery, he declared his intention of 'smashing the castle to the ground, hanging the garrison amidst its ruins and wiping the pestilent Swaynes off the face of the earth'. Lord Swayne had some advantages however, one of which was that he held the Earl's son, Gregory, captive.
This is a fascinating account of a medieval siege. It is also the story of the growing...