In 1601 an English sea captain, Henry Timberlake, sets off to trade with the East. Leaving behind a wife and children, he journeys to Alexandria and then overland to Cairo. He then decides to journey to Jerusalem, travelling overland to Gaza, and surviving an ambush. Then Timberlake meets a companion who will change his life. In Palestine, a Moor from Fez on his way to Mecca saves Timberlake’s life, not once, but twice, and they become friends and travelling companions. In this fascinating true story of a seventeenth-century adventurer, Joan Taylor brings to life Palestine of a bygone era, and explores the relationship between Islam and Christianity at the foundation of the modern world.