In a medieval kingdom, Grayling finds self-confidence when her mother is turned into a tree by evil forces and Grayling must venture into the wilds to reverse the spell.
"When Hilary Westfield escapes Miss Pim's finishing school to join a misfit pirate crew, she embarks on an unexpectedly magical swashbuckling, plank-walking, searfaring journey"--
Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley, a governess trained at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, takes the three Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place to London, England, and learns they are under a curse.
In 1573, the crippled, scorned, and destitute Meggy Swann goes to London, where she meets her father, an impoverished alchemist, and eventually discovers that although her legs are bent and weak, she has many other strengths.
When Miss Pimm, Enchantress of the Marsh, decides to retire, she enlists young Hilary Westfield to gather a band of scallywags and prepare to challenge Captain Blacktooth in an all-out battle for the presidency of the League in order to save the kingdom.