Long ago on the coast of ancient Ireland lived three brothers. Fursa was a stonecutter; Niall was a metal-smith; Broghan, the youngest, loved the sea and became a sailor. When Viking ships attacked the coast, the brothers fled inland to the monastery of St. Columbia, in the town of Kells. There Fursa and Niall became artists to help the monks complete the Book of Kells—which, according to ancient law, would protect the monastery from attack by the Irish kings and Viking lords alike.

As the days passed, Fursa and Niall were forced to leave the monastery as hostages to the Irish kings who demanded their skills. Of the three brothers only Broghan was left to complete the Book of Kells with the monks. But Broghan was a sailor and, although he tried, could not copy the work of his brothers. One night his longing for the sea drove him back to the coast, where a chance rescue of a Viking boy in a damaged ship made Broghan realize the urgency of the task ahead: The Vikings would soon be at Kells. Unless he went back to help, the Great Book would not be finished in time.

In this original story set in Ireland in the year A.D. 804, Deborah Nourse Lattimore recreates the extraordinary art and designs of the ancient Book of Kells, while telling the universal story of an artist's struggle to find his own voice.

From the dust jacket