This exciting story is true, and this book isn't a novel but a well-researched and compelling history book that can be read in the same way as fiction. There is a lot in here as well as the main story, for there are so many threads that lead up to it that have to be looked at as well. The background to start with, and the state of the country under the teenage king, the history of the de Carrouges family and their feudal world, the tumultuous 14th century and of course legal proceedings of the time. The reader gets to look into Jean and Marguerite's world and see how they spent their days and what the places mentioned in the story look like today - useful if you fancy a visit. I found myself fascinated by it all, and rarely have I read anything that defined a place and time so completely - all novelists writing about this period ought to read this. Absorbing and particularly enjoyable for fans of historical detection.