After a short-lived and childless marriage to sickly prince Arthur of England, Katharine finds herself handed down to his brother, the future king...

The Fleece Inn stood where the three roads joined--to London, to Norwich and to the sea. Its trade was prosperous, its

hospitality famous and its host, fat Job, was jolly and generous--to his guests.

To his servants Job was cruel and menacing and to Ellie Roon, the most menial servant at the Fleece, he was a figure of

terror. Ellie was used to being shouted at and bullied, but when her illegitimate daughter was born--in a rat-ridden attic of the

Fleece--she decided that Hester must have a different kind of life.

And so Hester Roon, equipped with little more than courage...