For most, the Black Death is the end. For a brave few, it heralds a new beginning.Widowed by her husband’s death from the pestilence, Lady Anne assumes control of his people’s future—200 bonded serfs without rights of ownership to land. Strong, compassionate and resourceful—qualities she kept hidden from the husband she loathed and despised—Lady Anne chooses a bastard slave, Thaddeus Thurkell, to act as her steward. Together, they decide to quarantine Develish by bringing the