AD 1270. On a remote East Anglian coast stands Tyndal Priory, which belongs to the Order of Fontevraud where monks and nuns live and work in close proximity. Twenty-one-year-old Prioress Eleanor of Wynethorpe has just been appointed prioress by King Henry III over the elected choice of the priory itself. Young and inexperienced, Eleanor will face a grave struggle - in a place dedicated to love and peace, she will find little of either.
It is late summer in the year 1270. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs over the land. In the small priory of Tyndal, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to routine. Alas, the day after the arrival of the new prioress, a brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief. Now Eleanor must not only struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and resentful flock but also bring a murderer to justice.
