Normandy, 1067. England has been brought to its knees by the invasion of William the Conqueror and his Norman troops.

Lady Catheryn, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, is taken against her will to Normandy after the invasion. She arrives, a prisoner, at the castle of Lord Geffrei, a ruthless invader who hopes to gain a ransom for her. Her husband Selwyn is dead, slain in the Conquest, and her daughter Annis has been left behind in England at the mercy of the invaders. Catheryn is treated like an animal, and left in a cell, until she begins to despair.

When Queen Matilda, William the Conqueror's wife, sees her plight, she takes pity on her. Catheryn is sent to the castle of the noble FitzOsberns - but will her new captivity be any better than the cruelty she faced at Geffrei's hands?

She finds her hostess cold and embittered, but when her husband William FitzOsbern returns from the Conquest, Catheryn's heart is torn by unwanted emotions. She becomes entangled in the quarrels and heartbreaks of her jailers, even as she tries to remember her place among them.

Is she falling in love with the man who helped to destroy her homeland? Can Catheryn betray her Anglo-Saxon roots, and her late husband? Or will she break free, and find her way back to Annis?

Captives is a moving historical story of love and loss, and the strength of one woman, even in the most dangerous of times. It is the sequel to Conquests.

Emily Murdoch is a medieval historian and novelist. She lives in York. She is also the author of Conquests and Love Letters in the same series.