A terrifying encounter with a deadly creature causes thirteen-year-old Benjamin Jackson Gaul to leave Ceylon in search of a new life. He is sent to live in England, in an orphanage deep in the Kent countryside.

In Victorian England, however, everything is not quite as cosy and safe as it at first appears: there are rumours of weird creatures haunting the orchards and fields. When a strange illness breaks out among the orphanage children and the enigmatic Nanny Belle—sister to Major Jack Union—arrives, adventure and mystery soon leap back into Ben's life. Along with the help of Rosalie, a local Gypsy girl, Ben must gather all the strength and courage he can muster in order to defeat an evil far greater than he could ever imagine.

Kit Cox is a stand-up comedian, leading exponent of Steampunk and counsellor for British soldiers returning from war zones. His alter-ego, Major Jack Union, spends his time protecting the British Empire from monsters, and his exploits and hunting tips are recorded in How to Bag a Jabberwock (Book Guild, 2012). Kit lives in Maidstone, Kent.