"Considered Keith Roberts' masterwork, this novel consists of linked short stories (six measures and a coda) set in a twentieth century where the Roman Catholic Church controls the western world, and has done so since Queen Elizabeth of England was assassinated in 1588. The Protestant Reformation never happened. The Inquisition thrives. And a tyrannical Rome maintains its power in a Dark Age, by limiting knowledge, outlawing electricity and curbing technology." --Publisher.