England. The middle of the 16th century.

The time of the accession to the throne of the great Queen Elizabeth I, who accepted England as poor and tormented by endless dynastic strife and turned it into the first power of Europe.

But until the brilliant Elizabethan “golden century" is still far away, and the young Protestant monarch is opposed by almost all European countries - especially France, which wants to place its own protege - the Catholic Mary Stuart - on the English throne.

This is the difficult era in which the young man and girl from the northern city of Kingsbridge, famous for its legendary cathedral, is a city now divided and riven by the relentless feud between Protestants and Catholics. And this enmity may forever separate Margery Fitzgerald, whose family supports Mary Stuart in word and deed, and Ned Willard, whom fate brings to Her Majesty’s secret service - into the ranks of Queen Elizabeth’s legendary spies...

A large-scale historical saga Ken Follett continues!