Saturnalia in the glamorous city of Aufleur is a time of topsy-turvy revels, of the world turned upside down. The city's theatres produce an annual display of reversals and surprises. Women can transform into wolves. Even the rats are not what they seem. Evie Inglirra has travelled to Aufleur to uncover the city's sinister secrets... but this newspaper reporter has secrets of her own. As she befriends the dazzling cabaret performers of the mysterious Vittorina Royale theatre, she falls under the spell of their most charismatic celebrities: songbird Livilla and the Stagemaster himself, a man some know as Poet. Who is Garnet, and why is everyone so afraid of him? What is the secret society known as the Creature Court, and why do they live underneath the city? Evie thought she wanted to learn the truth, but now she just wants to get out of Aufleur alive.