Very enjoyable and rather rollicking adventure, about a young orphan who flees a literal backwater village with a rescued and untrustworthy con-man and heads for the nearest city, only to become embroiled in a tangled net of intrigue between religious zealots and oppressive controlling guilds and dangerous radicals and loony rulers. Heroine Mosca an Aikenesque figure, reminiscent of Dido Twite in her manners, though she is well able to read, and, though good-hearted, capable of making a few selfish choices that get her into hot water. The intriguing world, a sturdy fantasy version of eighteenth century England with a fractured realm and floating coffee houses, makes for a fun setting for the escapades of Mosca and friends.