The book opens in 1709 and Europe is in the grip of the coldest winter for a century. There's a frost fair on the River Thames, and all the Dutch ports are frozen. France suffers most - after the fierce frost comes a famine as the cattle die and the harvests are poor.
The people are starving and mutiny rattles the French army. King Louis X1V searches for peace on almost any terms and negotiations commence in The Hague for a settlement with the English.
Captain Daniel Rawson is at those negotiations as an interpreter, but the talks collapse, and Daniel finds himself once again at the behest of the Duke of Marlborough. This time Marlborough needs Daniel to track down a missing and priceless tapestry, which he does, but as he journeys back to England, he becomes embroiled in the battle of Malplaquet, a campaign that will become famous throughout history as one of the bloodiest of the War of Spanish Succession.
