TUDOR England in the time of King Henry VIII is brought to vivid life in this exciting adventure for ten to 11 year olds.

Moss is the ten-year-old daughter of the King’s Executioner. Her job: to catch the heads of the condemned prisoners after her father has chopped them off in front of jeering crowds on Tower Hill in the grounds of the Tower of London.

But she and her father are prisoners, too – confined to the Tower precinct on pain of death for a crime her father committed long ago.

Moss hates her life, and longs to escape. One day, she discovers a secret tunnel that leads out of the Tower, through the sewers, to the banks of the River Thames.

Moss is free, able to roam at will through the sprawling fish markets along the river’s bank, or to venture on to the crowded, noisy London Bridge, lined with shops and taverns.

But it is a dangerous world she finds herself in: one filled with thieves, pickpockets, and things much worse – not least a raggedy man who seems to be following her, and a ghostly river witch rumoured to snatch children and drag them down into the icy depths of the Thames.

But she has a goal in mind: to search for Hampton Wheel, the water mill where her mother died giving birth to her years before. And so she sets out on a dangerous journey along the banks of the Thames in search of her destiny…

Exciting and beautifully written, this is a genuinely gripping adventure with a feisty heroine at its centre that should enthral any book-loving ten year old.