Thirteen-year-old Kat discovers a whole new level of being in trouble when she and her motor-mouthed foster brother, Ned, sneak into a neighbour’s garden and find themselves in 1670 London just after the Great Fire and the Black Death.
Conman Scardsale can’t believe his luck when the two children, wearing strange clothes and shoes of wheels and multi-colour lights, appear in his brother’s house. His plantation-owning wealthy brother is growing tired of supporting him and the two children provide him and his mean dog, Mr Growler, with meat pies aplenty as he sets them to work in the city’s coffee shops.
Now know as the Exotic Maiden with Magick Wheels of Multi-coloured Light and the Amazing Midget Oracle from the Sky, the children become the star attraction at Mrs Barebone’s coffee shop. There they make friends with actress Barbary and the kindly Mr Waverley, who worry about the fate of Scardale’s former charge, a boy called Samuel from Surinam. Kat uncovers the mystery of Samuel’s whereabouts and soon discovers he could hold the key to their return to 2018.
But is it too late? The batteries on her wheelie shoes are running low and Scarsdale’s threats to denounce Kat as a witch are becoming more and more threatening. To make matters worse, Scarsdale is making them perform at the famous Bartholomew Fair where Charles II and Samuel Pepys become huge fans.
It’s a race against time as Kat and Ned try and escape the clutches of Scarsdale and the vile Mr Growler, with the help of an Irish ribbon seller and half a dozen spider monkeys. Will they stay trapped in the 17th century forever or will they get back to 2018?
