 Easily Mackay Brown's most religious novel - written after he was received into the Roman Catholic Church - it is seen principally from the perspective of outsiders (peasants, mercenaries, schoolfriends, tinkers) which Mackay Brown interleaves with the Christian tradition of the seamless robe of Jesus.The narrative implies that Magnus's life is a preordained quest for the garment as a manifested object.It moves swiftly from Magnus's conception to his boyhood at the monastery on Birsay, his non-violent participation at the Battle of Menai Strait (depicted in the "Orkneyinga Saga") to the political manoeuvring and outright conflict between Magnus and his cousin Earl Hakon Paulsson.