From the royal palaces and fortified walls of medieval Constantinople to the distant banks of the Northern Danube beyond the Balkans, and 2,000 miles northwest to the landscapes of East Norfolk, England, this story follows the intertwined lives of two families. One belongs to the royal lineage of ancient Constantinople, while the other, in mid-twentieth-century England, lives in the dazzling era of the machine age.
In the latter, Alex and his brother Henry experience the world as wealthy yet rugged peasants, surrounded by the marvels of modern technology – cars, motorbikes, telephones, tanks, radios, record players, trains, and jets. Their lives are observed from afar by Heraclius and his brother Philip, who see a world of peaceful apple, pear, and corn harvesting. Meanwhile, Alex and Henry look upon the past as an age of rigorous Greek science, mathematics, and the brilliant, can-do spirit of Roman-Greek engineering and warfare. One world has emerged from years of brutal war and survival; the other seems destined to endure such struggles every decade. Their realities shape them in different ways – Alex rides, works, dances with girls, and goes to school, while Heraclius devotes himself to military training, strategy, and nocturnal rituals of light.
In Alex's world, a family legend speaks of a long-lost prince from the East whose bloodline merged with their own. At the same time, Heraclius' twin brother receives a mysterious visitor in his dreams – one who speaks to Alex across the centuries. As Alex becomes increasingly preoccupied with these visions, his family first regards it with humour, but their amusement soon turns to concern, as his distraction grows ever more noticeable to his friends, family, and especially his parents.
