China in the late nineteenth century - but this is not the nineteenth century of the history books.
This is a story of intrepid secret agents, Mongolian Book Bandits, and Mad Science.
A British expedition to Outer Mongolia has gone missing while investigating the reasons behind a Russian plan to build a railway to China. Li Bic and her travelling companion Amelia Harper are sent from Shanghai to find out what has happened to the missing men. On the way, they encounter the fabled Book Bandits of Saynshand, and discover that the city on the edge of the Gobi desert holds dangerous secrets.