Is there any truth to one of the most secret, yet persistent rumors in the Catholic Church's two thousand year history? In Rome, 858 A.D. While on his way to St. Peter's, Pope John Anglicus falls ill on a street. To their horror, the crowd discovers not only is the pope a woman, but she in the throes of labor. The pope and her secret lie in full view of a rampaging crowd. This compelling novel follows the legend of Pope Joan from her childhood, to Johanna von Mainz's epic adventure to find her father and the man she loves, both seemingly lost to her forever. She fights her way across a savage pre-Europe to get to Rome and her dreams, and we discover how she arrived at her fate. This story of a woman's rise to the papacy is a timeless struggle of someone who wanted it all: God, love, family, wisdom and, yes, power. Many have paid the highest price to make those dreams real, but none have been so completely erased from history as the woman pope.