The wily Eleanor of Aquitaine, the former queen of both France and England, sends her former ward, Alais, the sister of the King of France, to retrieve a cache of letters hidden in Canterbury Cathedral. Letters that, in the wrong hands, could bring down the English king. In return, Eleanor promises to reveal to Alais a long-held and dangerous secret involving Alais—a bargain she is powerless to resist. But before Alais can complete her mission, she is abducted, an auspicious event that will set troubling events in motion. It will require all of Alais’s considerable strengths, along with help from the very intriguing head of the Knights Templar, to unravel dark secrets, unmask evil villains, and escape with her life. An exciting, vividly rendered historical novel filled with mystery and intrigue and peopled with compelling legendary figures, The Canterbury Papers is a remarkable work from a brilliant new writer.