In this first book of the Eagle and Child historical novel series, young Devon Quail is launched into an often dangerous world by the death of her entire family. Her spirit and ingenuity will be tested again and again as she moves through the full spectrum of 19th-century London society and beyond, from the penniless to the over-privileged. Until she is forced to escape a predator by signing herself onto a ship bound for the American slavery South as an indentured servant to pay for her passage. There, her strong sense of justice will lead her into alliances with such activist figures as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and the notorious feminist Frances Wright.