Chapter 1 Summary

This novel is an epic story that describes the fates of Merewyn of Uther and Romieux de Provence. Theirs is a journey that begins with a chance meeting on the way to Tre-Uther, and continues through England, Iceland, Greenland and North America. Following the history of England's raids by the Vikings, Archbishop Dunstan's trials as he attempted to bring the masses to a Christian life, and Eric the Red's landing and colonization of Greenland, the story is one of love, devotion and a basic struggle to survive that begins in the year of our Lord 973.

Merewyn leaves home for an overnight trip for the first time with a serf named Caw and her dog, Trig. She is making a pilgrimage to St. Gundred's Well at Roche in the hopes that her prayers there will help her ailing mother, Breaca, too weak to make...