The first story in the gripping Deptford Histories trilogy. It is the winter of 1664 and young Will Godwin, an alchymist's assistant, chances upon a mother cat and her three new-born kittens in a London churchyard. Taking pity on the freezing family, Will carries them back to his master's apothecary shop. And there, among the bubbling bottles and evil-smelling jars in Dr. Spittle's laboratory, unfolds an extraordinary tale of sorcery, disease, villainy and murder.