Martin of Old London

London, 1666. The Plague has emptied the city of nearly everyone Martin Leake loves, and now the fourteen-year-old finds himself alone in one of the most dangerous and secretive trades in England: goldsmithing. Under the watch of the volatile Mr. Slocum, Martin sorts coins and precious metals while learning that a goldsmith's workshop is also a den of secrets, where foreign currencies and desperate men change hands in shadowed alleys along the Thames. When Martin notices a suspicious stranger watching foreign sailors at the riverside, he stumbles into an intrigue that will test every ounce of his courage. Between his grueling work hours and the watchful eyes of men who have reasons to keep a curious orphan silent, Martin must use his wits to survive and perhaps uncover a plot that reaches higher than he imagined. This is adventure as the Victorians wrote it: propulsive, dangerous, and utterly unafraid to let a young hero face genuine peril.