Consigned in a cold, arranged marriage to Berenger de Roquefort, the lord of the remote medieval village of Montaillou in the French Pyrenees, we follow Beatrice as she struggles with life, a life in which women are scarcely valued, except to produce an heir. She is raped and subjected to the prolonged and abusive propositioning of Father Clergue, the village priest. She loses her husband, her sons, her home. And meanwhile the Inquisition is extending its claws across the surrounding countryside and imprisoning and burning people at the slightest whiff of heresy. This is the time of the heretic Cathars and Beatrice comes originally from a Cathar family. Another marriage gives her some happiness, or rather 'contentment', which she says is not the same thing. It is only when she has become confident enough to choose her own lover, that she finds true happiness. But it doesn't last long. She and her new partner are taken and imprisoned along with some of her former villagers. She is accused of heresy, witchcraft and scandalous behaviour. They are all interrogated by the Inquisitional Judge, BIshop Jacques Fournier. Their statements are recorded in Latin and removed to the Vatican when Fournier later became Pope Benedict X11 in 1334. These records now provide a unique source for historians today as well as the 'stuff' of this novel. Read to find out about Beatrice's life and if she survives her imprisonment. She was a woman, alive 700 years ago, who tried to stand against the standards of her time.