John’s latest novel is set in Marseilles, 1673. Baudet’s destiny is is foreshadowed by a mysterious old woman, who appears throughout the story, and predicts that he will do great things, to Baudet’s disbelief.

He leaves his village of Vordan, which he has outgrown, to forge a new life in Marseilles. He finds lodgings in a tavern, whose proprietors befriend him, as does Father Philippe of a church in the poor district of Le Panier.

The deprivation he sees moves him to pity. Unwittingly, he is drawn to the Abbey Saint Victor, across the harbour, where his future will unfold with the Benedictine Order of monks. Although tempted into criminality by his friend, Criou, and a sexual liaison with the beautiful, cultured Aldessa, he resists. How will such uncompromising beginnings lead him to his extraordinary fate?

Follow Baudet through his struggle as a novice and his clashes with the obnoxious and delinquent Prior Delbert. Will he survive the deaths of his mentors to rise to achieve great things as the old woman foresaw?