A Delicate Fire

The year is 1129 and a Norman army completes its conquest of Sicily. The island's sophisticated inhabitants ask what they can expect from these northern barbarians.

For the elegant and prosperous young widow Perlina, the answer comes quickly. She and her wealth are to be presented to one of the Duke's fiercest knights, a reward for his deeds in battle. She faces marriage to a man whose crude and violent ways are in stark contrast to the husband she lost.

But when Perlina is moved by pity to a reckless act of defiance against the Duke, she places herself in mortal danger. This man to whom she has been unwillingly joined may be the only one she can turn to for help.