Elisha Barber

England in the fourteenth century: a land of poverty and opulence, prayer and plague . . . witchcraft and necromancy. As a child, Elisha witnessed the burning of a witch outside of London, and saw her transformed into an angel at the moment of her death, though all around him denied this vision. He swore that the next time he might have the chance to bind an angels wounds, he would be ready. And so he became a barber-surgeon, at the lowest ranks of the medical profession, following the only healers path available to a peasants son. Elisha is good at his work, but skill alone cannot protect him. In a single catastrophic day, Elishas attempt to deliver his brothers child leaves his family ruined, and Elisha himself accused of murder. Then a haughty physician offers him a way out: serve as a battle surgeon in an unjust war. Between tending to the wounded soldiers and protecting them from the physicians experiments, Elisha works night and day. Even so, he soon discovers that he has an affinity for magic, drawn into the world of sorcery by Brigit, a beautiful young witch . . . who reminds him uncannily of the angel he saw burn. In the crucible of combat, utterly at the mercy of his capricious superiors, Elisha must attempt to unravel conspiracies both magical and mundane, as well as come to terms with his own disturbing new abilities. But the only things more dangerous than the questions hes asking are the answers he may reveal.