A great historical novel, set during the last days of the rule of the House of Normandy of William the Conqueror and the rise of the Plantagenet Angevins. Yet, these events play out on the background to the main story which unfolds in an English priory, with a cast of characters from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. The theme of architecture and construction, the whole project of the cathedral, is the way in which the book chooses to deal with a wider subject: the profound love human beings have for craft, beauty and knowledge, and the spiritual idea that such things will outlive us.