The Tasters Guild

The Poisons of Caux, Book II

A macabre and funny fantasy trilogy

After the perilous adventure of The Hollow Bettle (Book I), the dark reign of the Nightshades is over at last, and a new day has arrived in Caux, a land long ruled by poison and deceit. The ancient Prophecy-the coming of a Noble Child to cure the one, true King-has finally begun.

But fear still grips the people of Caux, for they live in the shadow of the powerful, poisonous Tasters' Guild. Sequestered high within its corrupt walls sits Vidal Verjouce, the Guild's diabolical Director, his dark magic more potent than ever. Eleven-year-old Ivy, famed healer and Noble Child, and her friend and taster Rowan must venture inside the Guild itself if they are to find the door to their sister world, Pimcaux-and fulfill the Prophecy. But a deadly weed-once thought extinct-threatens their journey: scourge bracken, a plant dedicated to domination and destruction, also known, ominously, as Kingmaker. Who else has detected it? And will Ivy's remarkable gift-her dominion over plants and nature-be enough to thwart it?

Susannah Appelbaum's imagination soars with poison inks, flower codes, catacombs, secret crypts, and sinister twists in this middle volume of the macabre and magical Poisons of Caux fantasy trilogy.



From the Hardcover edition.

Susannah Appelbaum comes from a family of doctors and philosophers, which instilled in her both an early fascination with and a great deal of caution toward bottles marked "Poison." The idea for the Poisons of Caux trilogy was born when she lived in an old woodcutter's cottage in the French apple country as a child: "Out the door were ancient forests, wild boars, and new and inviting foods to taste."

Susannah worked in magazine publishing for many years and now lives with her family in New York's Hudson Valley and in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where her garden prefers to grow weeds.

She is also the author of The Hollow Bettle, Book I of the Poisons of Caux trilogy, and is hard at work on Book III. Please visit her on the Web at www.susannahappelbaum.com.


From the Hardcover edition.