A nineteenth-century French priest discovers something in his mountain village at the foot of the Pyrenees , which enables him to amass and spend a fortune of millions of pounds. The tale seems to begin with buried treasure and then turns into an unprecedented historical detective story - a modern Grail quest leading back through cryptically coded parchments, secret societies, the Knights Templar, the Cathar heretics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and a dynasty of obscure French kings deposed more than 1,300 years ago.

The core of the story is not about material riches but a secret - a secret of explosive and controversial proportions, which radiates out from the little Pyrenean village to encompass the whole of Western civilisation.It's repercussions stretch all the way to contemporary politics and the entire edifice of the Christian faith. It involves nothing less than the Holy Grail.

Here in this new updated edition, featuring a brand new introduction and many integrated never-before-seen photographs, the conclusions remain persuasive, and to many will be shocking, even dangerous. Whatever your views, this is a book you won't be able to set aside.