Using characters known to recorded historyincluding one to become the real Sheriff of NottinghamElizabeth Ashworth weaves a tale of loves lost and found during the exile of Richard the Lionheart Richard Fitz-Eustace's return from Palestine is far from joyous. Damned by leprosy, he must bid hisfamily a final and sorrowful farewell and leave his estates at Halton Castle forever. Condemned to shun the company of others, he must now find a place of solitude where he can seek forgiveness for sins committed in the Holy Land for which he is certain he has earned God’s curse. Resolved to live out his life as a hermit, he journeys north into the newly named county of Lancashire. But this is no arbitrary journey; there is one last obligation to beundertaken for his grandmotherhe must seek out her kinsman, Sir Robert de Lacy, at Cliderhou Castle and there press his consideration of her claim to his estate. While at Halton, Richard’s headstrong 14-year-old sister Johanna is distraught. Her other brother, ruthless and ambitious Roger, has returned to take his place as head of the family. He and Johanna’s mother have contrived a marriage for her to a wealthy old landowner, and without Richard’s protection there seems little she can do about itunless of course she can escape and find him.