This historical romance, set in the 1190s during the rule of England’s Richard the Lion Heart, exposes the raw experience of love: romantic, sexual and spiritual. The dramatic action moves from Wales through a tumultuous Europe unsettled by the Crusades to intensely colorful Palestine and back. Arrogant Guy Lanfranc assumes control of the family castle by sending his hated mother, the old baroness Ailena Valaise, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Wily Ailena vows revenge and finds the means in the person of Rachel Tibbon, a Jewish girl who survived the butchery of her family and other Jews after Crusader losses. Ailena’s plot to regain the castle built by her father propels Rachel into a perilous adventure of vengeance, faith—and true love set against impossible odds.