The crannog - a fortified island palace on a small lake in a remote Welsh mountain kingdom - is all that protects Ruadh and his family from marauding Vikings and power hungry Saxons. In 916, a cataclysmic event sends father, daughter and son in different directions. Their epic journeys see them drawn deep into the political intrigues of their time, and swept up in the volatile movements of trade in human lives and luxuries. Travelling to the darkest regions of human conflict and to the distant margins of early medieval Europe, body and mind are tested as each tries to make a life in a violent and rapidly changing world. Weaving archaeological evidence and historical record into a fast moving fictional tale, Trevor Houghton conjures up the sights, sounds and smells of early medieval life, from the hearths of Brycheiniog to the rapids of the Dnieper River, and the riches of the Byzantine Empire.