This book investigates perceptions of the Virgin Mary through several centuries of literature. Focusing especially on the depictions of the Virgin Mary in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, the author rediscovers a time when the Divine Female was very much in evidence, and good Christian women were taught to pray to a Holy Mother.

Lord Tomlin is a bachelor, but he won't be for long if his overbearing aunt has anything to say about it. She's picked out a potential mate with an "acceptable" bloodline, but Tomlin has his eye on a pretty young acolyte who recently arrived at the castle. An mercenary army is encamped outside the gates, threatening to attack at any moment. And of course there's a barrel of magic pickles... Joelle Mellon combines the deadpan hilarity of P.G. Wodehouse with the magic of Terry Pratchett in Swynmoor.