Of all the characters in The Seeing Stone and At the Crossing-Places, it is Gatty the village girl - steadfast, forthright, innocent and wise -- who has won the hearts of readers. This is her story, written down at her behest by her childhood friend and hero, Arthur de Caldicot.

Gatty's dream is to follow Arthur to Jerusalem - though she has not even understood that Jerusalem is farther away than Ludlow, and across the sea. As he sets out on the crusade, Gatty, unknown to him, follows. Her extraordinary journey on foot across Europe and towards the east makes a marvellous medieval adventure story.

Separate from the Arthur trilogy, this ambitious novel picks up many of its strands and characters but leaves fantasy behind to create a magnificently vivid and realistic picture of life and times in the Europe of 1202.