Spurned by her lover, and with her uncle threatening to
marry her off to his odious widowed brother, Gwenifer is
almost relieved to be sent away to escort the magistrate’s
old, blind mother to Ransomwood, where the tears of the
statue of the Holy Mother are said to have healing qualities.
Together with Harry, the village halfwit, who is escaping a
sentence of hanging for being in charge of an ox that
trampled a child almost to death, they embark on a perilous
journey … each of them looking for a different kind of
healing.