'A spectacular story of shape-shifting love and faith . . . It enthralled me' JESSIE BURTON
multi-million bestselling author of The Miniaturist 'Astonishing . . . a scorching vision of
a book' CHARLOTTE WOOD Booker-shortlisted author of Stone Yard Devotional 'Incredible'
EVIE WYLD author of The Echoes 'Bold and unexpected Rapture buzzes with life and energy . .
. Extraordinary' ROSANNA PIKE instant Sunday Times bestselling author of A Little Trickerie
The legend is only the beginning . . . Ninth-century Mainz in the heart of the Holy Roman
Empire. Agnes is the motherless child of an English priest - a wild and brilliant girl with a
deep visceral love of God. But when tragedy strikes she is suddenly forced to choose between
what is expected of her and the life she has always dreamed of. Determined to find her own
freedom she disguises herself as a man securing a place at the revered Fulda monastery and
forever altering the course of her existence. Thus begins the life of John the Englishman: a
matchless scholar and scribe of Fulda then a charismatic heretic in an Athens commune and by
her middle years a celebrated teacher in Rome. There she dazzles the Church hierarchy with
her knowledge of the old and new languages of Europe theology and Church law and finds
herself at the heart of political intrigue in a city where gossip is a powerful - and deadly -
currency. And when the only person who knows her identity arrives in Rome she will risk
everything to once again feel what it is to be known - and loved.
