The year is 1134. In an isolated German monastery, an aging monk begins the history of a war thirty-one years before. But a strange encounter with the Otherworld enchants his quill, and he can no longer write the cautionary Christian tale his superiors expect. He must write what he truly remembers. "A novel grand in narrative, grand in ideas and, especially, grand in ambition." (Edmonton Journal) "A powerful tale of ambition, delusion, obsession, and betrayal, focused upon four memorable characters...The work of a major talent: intelligently conceived, beautifully written, powerfully absorbing, deeply moving." (Victoria Strauss, SF Site)