The hero of this book is a Roman centurion who is also a man of medicine, Quintus Volusianus. Biblical scholars will recognize a rather curious blend of material here:- parts of the story, set in Judea, stem from the uncanonical writings known as the A P, in which Pilate is supposed to have reported on the Crucifixion; other parts, set in Britain in the time of the , are linked to the legends of the flowering thorn on the grave of Joseph of Arimathea on the isle of Avalon.
Against this dual background is built a story of the young Roman, of Joseph and of his ward, Veronica, the woman who wiped the sweat and blood from Jesus' face when he fell under the Cross on the road to Calvary.
