The epic story of Prince Madoc, son of the ruler of North Wales, who after the death of his wife leaves behind the battles for power and prestige in his homeland and journeys into the unknown, sailing with a small group of companions across the Western Ocean. In this novel, acclaimed author Knight skilfully blends historical fact and the histories of medieval Britain and France with the story of a Welsh prince who, legend says, discovered the continent of North America.

Three hundred years before Columbus, Madoc, son of Prince Owain Gwynedd, discovered North America and, soon thereafter, returned to Wales, leaving behind some of his people to colonize the newly discovered land. First reported by Dr. John Dee to Queen Elizabeth I and publicized as the official view in 1580 in order to justify the English raids on Spanish-controlled North America, this myth greatly influenced American and Welsh history. Gwyn Williams offers the first full-length analysis of the Madoc myth, including a full description of how and why the Elizabethans developed it and an examination of the "Madoc fever" that gripped both sides of the Atlantic in the 1790s.