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Here, in the story of a great gift and an even greater journey, is summoned all the magic and splendor, the brutality and the innocence of a lost era - the not-so-Dark Age when faith ruled men's hearts.
Aidan is a scribe in a remote Irish monastery on the far, wild edge of Christendom. He was born to rule, but his future was lost with his father's kingdom, to the fierce Danes. Behind the walls of Cennanus na Rig, Aidan is secure and sheltered by monastic life, dividing his time between prayer and work, contemplation and the dreams of the wider world that stir every young man's mind.
Then a miracle bursts into Aidan's quiet life. He is chosen to accompany a small band of monks on a quest to the farthest eastern reaches of the known world - the fabled city of Byzantium, where they are to present a beautiful and costly hand-illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells, to the Emperor of all Christendom.
On this expedition, Aidan becomes, by turns, a warrior and a sailor, a slave and a spy, a Viking and a Saracen, and finally, a man. He sees more of the world than most men of his time, becoming an ambassador to kings and an intimate of Byzantium's fabled Golden Court. And finally this valiant Irish monk faces the greatest trial that can confront any man in any age: commanding his own Destiny.
