This magnificent historical novel, set in thirteenth-century England during the turbulent reign of Henry III, tells the story of a great and secret love, one that almost defies modern sensibilities while touching chords that go much deeper.

Heir to the earldoms of Gloucester and Hertford, Richard de Clare is but a boy when his father dies while fighting the king's battles in France. Too great a prize to be left in the keeping of his pretty mother, herself soon to be the object of royal affections, he is given by the king in guardianship to Hubert de Burgh, Henry's chief justiciar and one of the most powerful nobles of the land. Richard is sent to live at Burgh and there meets Meggotta, the adored daughter of Hubert and his wife, Margaret. Meggotta knows no hesitation in making Richard her inseparable companion, and as she and Richard grow in age together, so grows the bond between them. But the peace of Burgh is shattered abruptly and irrevocably when treacherous voices speaking low in royal chambers at Westminster turn the king against Meggotta's father. Unleashing all his considerable power in an effort to destroy his old friend and adviser, Henry brings England to the very brink of civil war. It is against this monumental tide of adult affairs that Richard and Meggotta find they must not only fight but prevail in order not to be swept apart.