All the excitement of a Da Vinci Code plot, but with the historical knowledge of Umberto Eco and a passionate story of love and romance. The book is a fascinating blend of historical novel, thriller, love story and spiritual search for freedom. A middle-aged historian quietly in search of manuscripts and icons finds himself mixed up with a murdered monk in a remote monastery on Mount Athos, a beautiful woman and a mysterious age-old association known as the Brotherhood of the Holy Face, who would stop at nothing to recover the icon in question – which they believe holds the key to world peace ... or world war. The double chase takes us at a hectic pace through Greece, Italy and Cappadocia (Turkey). 

Flashbacks to the Byzantine Empire, its wars, saints and power-crazed adulteresses, and to the Fourth Crusade in 1204, through the eyes of a contemporary chronicler, add to the adventure and give us the background to the icon the historian is looking for. He eventually finds it in the north of Italy.