Shadows and Strongholds

England, 1148 -- ten-year-old Brunin FitzWarin is an awkward misfit in his own family. A quiet child, he is tormented by his brothers and loathed by his powerful and autocratic grandmother. In an attempt to encourage Brunin's development, his father sends him to be fostered in the household of Joscelin de Dinan, Lord of Ludlow. Here Brunin will be educated in knightly arts.

Hawise, the youngest daughter of Lord Joscelin, soon forms a strong friendship with Brunin and they grow up together against a tumultuous background. Family loyalties mean that her father, with the young Brunin as his squire, must aid Prince Henry of Anjou in his battle with King Stephen for the English crown. Meanwhile Ludlow itself comes under threat from Joscelin's rival, Gilbert de Lacy. As the war for the crown rages, and de Lacy becomes ever more assertive in his claims for Ludlow, the relationship between Brunin and Hawise is irrevocably changed as their parents arrange a marriage between them.

As the pressure on Ludlow intensifies and a new Welsh threat emerges, Brunin must confront the future head on -- or fail on all counts …