14 year old Will has to join a group of strolling players/actors to avoid being taken in for poaching by the local lord. The players are making their way to the home of an eccentric collector and inventor of strange and unusual machines.
Whilst they are at this very large and strange manor house, Will becomes caught up in far greater matters than he expected, matters that concern the Queen of England herself. Trying to recover an important book stolen by an infamous woman spy, Will is in a sword fight, taken prisoner, locked up and escapes from the Tower of London and foils an assassination attempt.
The story is full of well researched details from Elizabethan England populated with characters from history. ( )