In 1048 young Gabriol was already the greatest and most celebrated poet in Europe -- and also the hungriest. Together the Jews and Arabs of his native Spain had created a culture of dazzling sophistication. It was a Golden Age, a turning point in history. Yet the resplendent kingdom of Granada was threatened by barbaric Christians to the North and, more seriously, by fanatics gathering across the Mediterranean in Africa. Rallying to the standard of demagogue ibn Tashfent, a Moslem army was massing there for a holy crusade to purify Islam by the sword.
But just that autumn Gabriol had fallen in love with an enchanting and brilliant woman who had found him sleeping on the beach below her secluded home. So the adventurer's thoughts were elsewhere as he journeyed to Granada at the prime minister's behest, unaware of the role he would be called upon to play in the kingdom's destiny.