Alianore Audley is a good, submissive, demure woman of the fifteenth century - and if you believe that, you'll believe anything. But she is a spy in Edward IVs intelligence service, and the author of a chronicle that casts - well, a new light, let's say, on the times of the Yorkist kings. At various times Alianore is a trainee witch, a resident in a convent, a spy in France and an uncoverer of plots. Sometimes in the "back office" sometimes in the field, but always in trouble.