After the bloody affair with spy master Rivera, Hildegard returns from pilgrimage still heart sore. The prioress sends her for a cure to the remote gothic priory at Handale. As a house of correction it lies in the middle of vast, dark woodland where rumours of a dragon terrorise the most hardened and sinful penitents. When Hildegard discovers the body of a young and handsome apprentice in the morgue she is told that he is the dragon's latest victim. At the same time assassins pursue King Richard's trusted courier across the bleak Yorkshire Moors and a secret meeting of the northern barons is being held at nearby Kilton Castle. Risking death and mutilation, Hildegard sets out to unravel the unholy links between these factions.
Award winning playwright Cassandra Clark is a fan of anything gothic - ruined abbeys, mist-shrouded castles, and knights in shining armour. Unsurprisingly she chose the late fourteenth century for the setting of her latest series featuring intrepid nun sleuth Hildegard of Meaux. The glamour of the royal court at Eltham was at its height when nineteen year old Richard II was King of England. Cassandra sees him as our first Renaissance prince and is fascinated by the bitter feud that destroyed the great and glorious Plantagenet dynasty, setting cousin against cousin. With a savage desire to usurp the throne and defeat his peace-loving and cultured king, Richard's war lord cousin, Harry Bolingbroke, engages in a fight to the death. Cassandra searches the archives to chart the fate of these two and the curious details of medieval life.
About the Author
Award winning playwright Cassandra Clark is a fan of anything gothic - ruined abbeys, mist-shrouded castles, and knights in shining armour. Unsurprisingly she chose the late fourteenth century for the setting of her latest series featuring intrepid nun sleuth Hildegard of Meaux. The glamour of the royal court at Eltham was at its height when nineteen year old Richard II was King of England. Cassandra sees him as our first Renaissance prince and is fascinated by the bitter feud that destroyed the great and glorious Plantagenet dynasty, setting cousin against cousin. With a savage desire to usurp the throne and defeat his peace-loving and cultured king, Richard's war lord cousin, Harry Bolingbroke, engages in a fight to the death. Cassandra searches the archives to chart the fate of these two and the curious details of medieval life.
