Welcome to the Witherward, and to a London that is not quite like our own. Here, it’s summertime in February, the Underground is a cavern of wonders and magic fills the streets. But this London is a city divided, split between six rival magical factions, each with their own extraordinary talents – and the alpha of the Changelings, Gedeon Ravenswood, has gone rogue, threatening the fragile accords that hold the city together.

Ilsa is a shapeshifting Changeling who has spent the first seventeen years of her life marooned in the wrong London. Alone, she scratched out a living as a stage magician’s assistant, dazzling audiences by using her Changeling talents to perform the impossible. When she’s dragged through a portal into the Witherward, Ilsa finally feels like she belongs. Yet her new home is on the brink of civil war: pulled into the fray, Ilsa must use all the tricks up her sleeve simply to stay alive.