When her village in Albion is sacked by the Roman general Vespasian, young Aislin is left without home and family.
Determined to exact revenge, she travels to Rome, a sprawling city of wealth, decadence, and power.
A barbarian in a civilized world, Aislin struggles to comprehend Roman ways.
From a precarious hand-to-mouth existence on the streets, she becomes the mistress of a wealthy senator, but their child Faolan is born with a disability that renders him unworthy of life in the eyes of h.