'A rich, surprising and devastating story of a female institution long-forgotten' Marj Charlier, author of The Rebel Nun A heretical text, a vengeful husband, a forbidden love... It's 1310 and Paris is alive with talk of the trial of the Templars. Religious repression is on the rise, and the smoke of execution pyres blackens the sky above the city. But sheltered behind the walls of Paris's great beguinage, a community of women are still free to work, study and live their lives away from the domination of men. When a wild, red-haired child clothed in rags arrives at the beguinage gate one morning, with a sinister Franciscan monk on her tail, she sets in motion a chain of events that will shatter the peace of this little world-plunging it into grave danger.

"A remarkable evocation of hidden aspects of the medieval world... Kiner blends unfamiliar history with a compelling account of women struggling in a society determined to shackle them" - Sunday Times, Historical Fiction Book of the Month

"This rich historical drama is beautiful and unpretentious, a wonderful piece of historical fiction, fluidly capturing the feel of the period... It paints a wonderful picture of the world of the beguines" - Historical Novel Society

"Brilliantly juggles history and fiction" - Le Figaro

"Sensitive and subtle in substance, carnal and poetic in form... A luminous novel" - Huffingtonpost.fr

"Leads us with brio into a little-known Middle Ages of strong, erudite, supportive, and generous women" - Page des libraires