Sam Smith

The Secret Report of Friar Otto Sam Smith

A gang of renegade knights take refuge on the tiny and remote Lundy Island off the coast of Devon. When they are betrayed, captured and condemned, Friar Otto is sent to investigate their crimes. Confronted by dangerous ideas, Otto starts to ask himself awkward questions. His secret report is a modern reinterpretation of a 750-year-old manuscript, The Report in Confidence on the Imprisonment and Execution of William de Marisco and Sixteen of His Followers. The original text has been turned into a beautifully-crafted modern novel, utterly convincing in its evocation of medieval England. The prisoners spend as much time goading the prudish celibate with stories about 'tupping' the ladies as they do in discussing doctrinal niceties.