From the acclaimed author of The Forest of Moon and Sword comes a new middle-grade adventure. When Nico Cloud snoops around her aunt's ship, Anthos, she doesn't realise it's about to leave on a scientific voyage. Can Nico help her aunt to change the world? 1815. Twelve-year-old Nico Cloud is obsessed with science and maps; "fossils are the past and seeds are the future." Her parents have no time for her outlandish opinions - after all, a girl's work is embroidery. One windswept day, after overhearing that her parents plan to send her away to boarding school, Nico goes in search of her aunt Ruth's ship, Amphitrite. Nico spots it on the harbour, and snoops around on board, in awe of her aunt's life as a famous scientist, destined for voyage and discovery. A life she can only dream about.

Then. the ship moves, and Nico is still on it. Suddenly Nico's life changes. If she is to stay on board, she must work to help her aunt find the fossilised seed she is on the brink of discovering. With the help of cabin boy, Matteo, can she outsmart a male scientist hell-bent on making Nico's aunt's research his own? And will she discover the truth behind the myth of the ghost ship that brought wheat to the island of Sicily centuries ago? Can Nico guide Anthos to victory. can she change the world?.