"Thirteenth-century Edinburgh comes off the page cold and convincing,
from the smoke and noise of the tavern kitchen to Holyrood Abbey under a
treacherous abbot. Most enjoyable." --The List
In the spring of 1297 the English army controls lowland Scotland and
Margaret Kerr's husband Roger Sinclair is missing. He'd headed to Dundee
in autumn, writing to Margaret with a promise to be home for Christmas,
but it's past Easter. Is he caught up in the swelling rebellion against
the English? Is he even alive? When his cousin, Jack, is murdered on the
streets of Edinburgh, Roger's last known location, Margaret coerces her
brother Andrew, a priest, to escort her to the city.
She finds Edinburgh scarred by war--houses burnt, walls stained with
blood, shops shuttered--and the townsfolk simmering with resentment,
harboring secrets. Even her uncle, innkeeper Murdoch Kerr, meets her
questions with silence. Are his secrets the keys to Roger's
disappearance? What terrible sin torments her brother? Is it her husband
she glimpses in the rain, scarred, haunted? Desperate, Margaret makes
alliances that risk both her own life and that of her brother in her
search for answers. She learns that war twists love and loyalties, and
that, until tested, we cannot know our own hearts, much less those of
our loved ones.