`I sense in you a scholar, Miss Stevenson. One who knows where old truths might be found, and how to look for them.'

Hanna Stevenson is a Belgian PhD student whose research into Viking raids takes a dark and compelling turn. She accidentally comes across a priceless ninth-century manuscript which hints at an ordeal suffered by Danish raiders in the Ardennes forests. In some way, the events appear linked to the English kingdom of Wessex. Aided by James McCallum, a researcher at King’s College London, Hanna sees the coincidental discoveries pile up - until she realises they are anything but.

The past, both in Hanna’s own life and in the history of the world, is not always dead. Sometimes it merely sleeps, biding its time until the world is open to it and the right person can help it claim the present. Hanna might be that person, but to admit it is to leave behind all it means to be human.

When murder begins to dog Hanna’s footsteps, it appears to James that Hanna has made her choice. The question, both for James and for DCI Shalini Khan of the London Metropolitan Police, is whether anyone can stem the tide of what Hanna has unleashed...