Medieval Stones

Would you pay someone to bear your sorrow?

During the Middle Ages, a peasant's superstition held that a mother mourning the death of her child could "sell her sorrow" by selling a nail from her child's coffin to a peddler.

Lady Celeste is overwhelmed with grief when her infant son dies. Desperate to find relief, she escapes the convent where her husband has sent her to recover and begs a passing peddler to buy her sorrow. Jean, the cynical peddler she meets, is nobody’s fool; he does not believe in superstitions and insists Celeste include the valuable ruby ring on her finger along with the nail in return for his coin.

As Jean continues on his route and Celeste returns to the Abbey, they both find themselves changed by their transaction in ways neither of them anticipated. Jean finds that bearing another’s sorrow opens him to strange emotions and dangerous mistakes as he travels his route and navigates the perils of life in the Middle Ages. Meanwhile Celeste learns that without her wedding ring her husband may set her aside, leaving her ruined. She determines to retrieve it before he finds out - without reclaiming her sorrow. But how will she find the peddler and convince him to give up the precious ruby ring?

If you like realistic medieval fiction with evocative prose, compelling characters, and a unique story, you’ll love this incredible journey into the south of France in the 12th century, based on an actual medieval belief.