Nettle Blackthorn's father has been keeping a very big secret.

A secret he can't keep hidden from his children for very much longer because they've just returned home to their family home, Blackthorn Cottage, which dwells within the Forgotten Wilds, a mysterious forest, vast and ancient. No map reveals its name, nor does anyone remember it... unless you were born there.

Nettle, little brother Bramble and surly cousin Jazz embark on a grand adventure full of spriggans, talking rocks, prickly thickets and Good Folk. Where the trio are won over by three charming sisters that run a tea house in a peculiar town on top of a rather odd hill.

But is Olde Town all it appears to be? Just who are the Balfrey sisters? And what exactly do they want? Soon enough Nettle finds herself embroiled in a mystery that began several centuries ago with the Accursed Lysette.