BROTHER CADFAEL MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN LOYALTY TO THE ORDER AND THE DESIRE TO FIND HIS LOST SON...
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Cadfael had never been afraid to conform a little to the monastic rules, but never in his life would he have thought that he would have to break his religious vows. But when the latest news from the protracted war between the English king Stephen I and his cousin Matilda arrives in Shrewsbury in November 1145, he quickly understands that he has no choice.
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Because of the betrayal in their own ranks, thirty of Matilda's knights ended up captured by the enemy, and among them was Cadfael's unacknowledged son, Olivier de Bretagne, whom he conceived with his lover Miriam, when he participated in the Antioch crusade long before joining the Benedictine order.
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While everyone else is redeemed, Olivier remains missing and may face death. The wise monk thus faces the greatest test of his life. Can he leave the monastery and go in search of his lost son, who has no idea that Cadfael is his father?