Michael Cadnum

In 1587, sailing to Spain on board Sir Francis Drake's ship "Elizabeth Bonaventure, " seventeen-year-old surgeon's apprentice Thomas Spyre finds that, with the sudden death of his master, he must take over as ship's surgeon and prove his skill not only as a doctor but also as a fighter when he is enlisted by Drake to face battle.

Expands on the myth of Orpheus, a young poet and musician who undertakes a terrifying journey to ask the rulers of the Underworld to return the princess Euridice, his beloved bride, after she is killed by a venomous serpent.

A young boy describes how he and his parents feel when they leave their old house and move to a new house in another town.