An impoverished young knight joins the First Crusade. Like most of his contemporaries, Roger has never travelled outside his county, let alone country. His fighting skills are untested. On the three-year journey, he discovers the yawning gulf between war as celebrated by the troubadours and the grisly reality of life and death on campaign. Then, in the summer of 1099, he finds himself poised to storm the citadel of Jerusalem itself.

'Duggan looks upon the past with a connoisseur's relish of villainy and violence.' New York Times