"Hereward is dead."

His estranged wife, Torfrida, doesn't believe it. Beautiful, clever and wise in the lore of the stars, she assumes it's a trick to win back her wifely submission. Hereward the Wake, the legendary English hero who defied and defeated William the Conqueror, could not have been killed in such a way.

But when she sees the murdered body with her own eyes, all that is left to her is to discover the truth. Vividly remembering the past as she goes, Torfrida investigates the circumstances that led to Hereward's death, for even now, she needs to believe in the flawed, turbulent man who was her only love. From their first childhood meeting, through their tempestuous courtship and marriage, their life together teemed with adventure, romance, intrigue, and betrayal.

And the truth, when Torfrida eventually finds it, only leads her into greater danger, threatening her unexpected new happiness in the very moment of its discovery.

Mary Lancaster was born in Scotland and graduated with honours from the University of St. Andrews. Her degree is in history, the subject which remains the chief inspiration for her writing. Since then, she has worked or studied in Wales, Glasgow, London and Edinburgh, before eventually settling on the Fife coast, where she still lives with her husband and three young children. Despite having earned a living over the years as Editorial Assistant, Researcher and Librarian, Mary Lancaster has managed to retain her love of books, particularly old and dusty ones. Her interest has always extended to writing them - though, for many years, only for her own amusement.

Torfrida is thirty-two years old, cynical, secretive, confident of her own wisdom and learning. Yet even she is taken by surprise when Hereward is brutally killed by his Norman guests. Lonely and embittered, it is with reluctance that she remembers the past, from her first childhood meeting with the tumultuous Hereward, through their stormy courtship and Hereward's military adventures as mercenary and as patriot - which she shared - up to the unforgivable betrayal which parted them.
Even more reluctantly does Torfrida begin to question Hereward's murder, eventually seeking the elusive truth with a desperation that mirrors her own unacknowledged need to believe in him and the value of their marriage.
But the truth only leads her into greater danger, threatening her unexpected new happiness in the very moment of its discovery.
An Endless Exile is the story of the eleventh century hero, Hereward 'the Wake', the only Englishman to have defied and defeated William the Conqueror.