Set against the superstition and splendour of the eleventh century, the tantalising story of Rob J. Cole unfolds. A penniless orphan, Rob was blessed with a gift which, in the days of witchcraft, would send a man to the stake: he could sense the chill hand of death when it settled on the living. His skill quickened with the potency of knowledge and he knew he was born to heal and be a physician. His quest would take him from the rough roads and seething streets of Britain to the sumptuous and corrupt courts of Persia and the school of the greatest healer of his time. Disguised as a Jew, toiling as a war surgeon in the conflicts of dazzling Eastern empires, he would be helped by mighty patrons and threatened by plague and cruel prejudice of mullahs and clerics. And beside the pure flame of learning there burned as fierce a passion - for the fiery-eyed beauty of the woman he could never leave...