1666 The Great Fire of London sweeps through the streets and a heavilypregnant woman flees the flames. A few months later she gives birth to a childdisfigured b... » 

1666 The Great Fire of London sweeps through the streets and a heavilypregnant woman flees the flames. A few months later she gives birth to a childdisfigured by a red birthmark. 1718 Sixteenyearold Eliza Tally sees thegleaming dome of St. Pauls Cathedral rising above a rebuilt city. She arrivesas an apothecarys maid a position hastily arranged to shield the father ofher unborn child from scandal. But why is the apothecary so eager to welcomeher when he already has a maid a halfwit named Mary? Why is Eliza neverallowed to look her veiled master in the face or go into the study where hepursues his experiments? It is only on her visits to the Huguenot booksellerwho supplies her masters scientific tomes that she realizes the nature of hisobsession. And she knows she has to act to save not just the child but Mary andherself. «