This story of a real historical character and a modern-day thriller is told in two time lines: the present and 17th Century France.

Claire Blaise is a 21st Century physicist with a passion for the past. Haunted by dreams of a woman in mortal danger in 17th Century Paris, she’s compelled to try to rescue her. In order to do that, she must first discover the technology necessary to reach her.  A brilliant scientist renowned in her field, Claire is led to a highly secret project in Iceland where funds are provided for her research by an unknown source. Intrigue over Claire’s technology heats up when she learns that her notes have been stolen and further events cause her to fear, not only for her work, but for her life.

Woven with Claire’s efforts, the novel tells the true life story of Jacqueline Arnauld; known to history as la Mere Angelique. Sent against her will to become the abbess of Port Royal abbey near Paris at eight years old, young Jacqueline is rebellious, willful, intelligent and charming. Through her early years, she resents her fate and longs for a normal life with marriage and children. She also rails against the conditions at the abbey where all semblance of religious practice has been lost, and the women live lives devoid of meaning.

At 16, after a powerful spiritual experience, la Mere Angelique resolves to reform the abbey. For the next 30 years, her many trials and successes are chronicled as she becomes instrumental in improving conditions, not only within her own abbey, but in the Catholic Church in France. Famous in her lifetime, she aligns with others in a movement known as the Jansenist Heresy; one of the most serious schisms in the history of the Church. Fighting against a backlash from the liberal Jesuits, King Louis XIVth, and two consecutive popes, the battle rages for years with la Mere Angelique in the center of the controversy.

It is to this climatic point that Claire is ultimately drawn. Finally able to time-travel, she goes to 17th Century Paris where she meets Angelique and learns of her troubles. She also discovers a passionate love for la Mere’s brother, Antoine, who is a writer and orator for the Jansenist cause. However, Claire’s enemies in Iceland trick her into returning to her own time when her memory is brought into question as her unknown rivals conspire to force her to reveal the secrets of her research. Will Claire be able to uncover the plot against her and return to the 17th Century in time to save those she’s come to love?