"A fable, set in the 17th century, filled with vivid evocations of another time [and] wonderfully peculiar characters." - Kirkus Reviews

To escape Puritan England, naturalist Edward Popple signs on to be a ship's doctor on a journey across the Indian Ocean, and his daughter, Rosamund, stows away to accompany him. But a wreck leaves them stranded on an island off the coast of Africa.

Amid the lush vegetation, the birds and the sea turtles, father and daughter set about exploring, Edward passionately studying the island's horticulture and Rosamund wandering about to discover its mysteries. Then a Chinese ship, with the last heir to the Ming dynasty among its passengers, arrives-and changes everything.

"The prose is ripe, laden with a sense of the forbidden, and with doom." - Publishers Weekly

"A luminous historical novel." - Booklist Online