Islay--an island kingdom in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland--is the setting for this tightly plotted tale of passion, witchcraft, and thwarted vengeance that begins and ends in the highest room of Dunyvaig Castle's tower. With Tower and Turrets, Crowned takes place during a six hour time span, in the dead of winter in 1143--and relies on recollections, flashbacks, and dreams to tell a story that actually began three years earlier. Rhian MacDomhnuill is a powerful Gaelic warlord who falls in love with Gwyneth, a beautiful and sultry peasant maiden. Rather than marrying Gwyneth, Rhian is sadly coerced into a politically expedient union instead--with Sif, an Icelandic princess who, unbeknown to Rhian, has a dark and evil soul. Gwyneth, whose heart is broken, finds a way to reunite with Rhian as a servant in his castle. When Sif learns of her husband's rekindled passion with his former lover, she becomes intent on revenge; and her malice takes a form that is not only unexpected, but also unnatural and terrifying.