In AD1200, a young man – Gervase Pitt – is found half drowned on a Sussex beach by the teenaged Joan. Their meeting will lead to an adventure involving lords, clergy, the (so-called heretic) Cathars and equally loved and feared Knights Templar.

Together with Nick, the autistic child they adopt, they must discover how the nearby Priory is trying to discredit Lord William de Braose, the baron for whom Gervase works. More importantly, they must prove the allegations are false.

Their investigations cover much of Sussex and Surrey, before Nick’s photographic memory comes to their aid.

The French Carpenter is the first in a series of nine books covering the Pitt family’s adventures during the first decades of the thirteenth century. It includes many real-life characters, who become embroiled in the machinations of evil-minded and ambitious people.