The second part in an epic historical trilogyThe Estonian answer to Wolf Hallby the nation's greatest modern writerThe year is 1563, and by any account Balthasar Russow can be said to have risen in the world.
Fresh from his studies in the German town of Stetten, he has assumed the role as pastor of Tallinn's Holy Ghost Church.
Moreover, he is betrothed to a maiden of the townmuch to the chagrin of her father, who has no wish to welcome peasant stock to the family when there is no shortage of upstanding young German menand is poised to begin the chronicle that will ensure his everlasting fame.
But tribulations still await the now not-quite-young PastorLivonia is still plagued by foreign powers, with Tallinn braced to withstand a prolonged Muscovite siege.
And he will discover that marriage is often a battlefield in itself.
