Karen Maitland

On Midsummer's Day 1348, a day of ill omen, plague makes its entrance in England. Panic and suspicion flood the land and a small band of travellers comes together to outrun the breakdown in law and order. But they soon realise there is something more sinister than plague in their midst.

England 1321: Deep in the countryside lies an isolated village governed by a sinister regime of Owl Masters. But the status quo is disturbed by the arrival of a house of religious women. Why do their crops succeed and cattle survive when others fail. The women must look to their faith to save them from suspicion.

Porlock Weir, Exmoor, 1361. Thirteen years after the Great Pestilence, plague strikes England for the second time. Sara, a packhorse man's wife, remembers the horror all too well and fears for the safety of her children. Only a dark-haired stranger offers help but at a price that no one will pay.

Fear gives way to hysteria in the village, and when the sickness spreads to her family, Sara finds herself locked away by neighbours she has trusted for years. And as her husband - and then others - begin to die, the cost no longer seems so unthinkable.

The price that I ask from one willing to pay... a human life.

Vincent is an apprentice librarian who stumbles upon a secret powerful enough to destroy his master. With the foolish arrogance of youth, he attempts blackmail but the attempt fails and Vincent finds himself on the run and in possession of an intricately carved silver raven's head.