London, May 1537.
As those closest to the throne are locked in a fierce fight against others desperate to save England’s monasteries from destruction, young Joanna Stafford faces a far more personal battle. When she learns her cousin is about to be burned at the stake for rebelling against Henry VIII, Joanna makes a decision that will change not only her life, but quite possibly the fate of a nation.
It will mean turning her back on everything she knows, for Jonna is a novice at Dartford Priory - and to save her family, she must break the sacred rule of enclosure. But running away is only the first transgression. From the Tower of London to secret assignations and from Stonehenge to the royal court, Joanna becomes entangled with a secret whose deadly past stretched farther back than anyone has imagined.
As her mission draws a trail in blood from the last whispered words of a queen to a pattern of unnatural deaths in the royal lineage, Joanna must determine who to trust, and how far she's willing to go to protect her life, her family and everything she holds dear.
As those closest to the throne are locked in a fierce fight against others desperate to save England’s monasteries from destruction, young Joanna Stafford faces a far more personal battle. When she learns her cousin is about to be burned at the stake for rebelling against Henry VIII, Joanna makes a decision that will change not only her life, but quite possibly the fate of a nation.
It will mean turning her back on everything she knows, for Jonna is a novice at Dartford Priory - and to save her family, she must break the sacred rule of enclosure. But running away is only the first transgression. From the Tower of London to secret assignations and from Stonehenge to the royal court, Joanna becomes entangled with a secret whose deadly past stretched farther back than anyone has imagined.
As her mission draws a trail in blood from the last whispered words of a queen to a pattern of unnatural deaths in the royal lineage, Joanna must determine who to trust, and how far she's willing to go to protect her life, her family and everything she holds dear.
