King David wants Bathsheba.
King Henry VIII too must have what he wants. He wants Ann, a divorce, a son. He looks up at his tapestry of David and sees a mighty predecessor who defended his faith and took what he liked. But he leaves it to others to count the costs.
Among those counting is the poet Wyatt, who sees a different David, a man who repented before God, in song as in life. This is the version of the biblical king which Wyatt must give voice to as he translates David's psalms.
As David pursues Bathsheba, Henry courts Ann, and Wyatt interweaves the past and present.
For readers of Marilynne Robinson, Anne Carson and Hilary Mantel, Lux is a story of love and its reach, fidelity and faith, power and its abuses.