Eleven-year-old Ivy Manx is on a mission, a search and rescue mission to be exact. When Ivy’s uncle the last apotheopath healer goes missing Ivy must set off to find him.  Ivy is accompanied by her beloved crow named Shoo and her new friend a taster named Rowan. This mission sound’s fairly easy but the Kingdom of Caux is anything but safe and easy. Caux is a kingdom where the motto is poison or be poisoned. Apotheopaths are healers but they have been outlawed, that’s why Ivy’s uncle is the last one.  The people of Caux can’t have a meal without a taster, tasters are people trained to detect poison in food.  So it would be a foolish choice to eat without one. To make matters worse Ivy and Rowan are now enemies of the realm and they’re being followed.