<br>Will Poppy has always been fascinated with writing - he thinks there’s something almost... magical about it. But when his mother passes away, Will finds himself stuck living with his awful aunt, unable to write a single word (despite the fact that two Muses will not leave him alone), and handed a mysterious package which includes an old picture of his grandparents and a piece of cloth with the words 'The Griffin of Darkwood' on it.</br><br>When his aunt decides to move both of them to a small village, Will is excited for a new adventure, and in a castle no less! But after a rude welcome to the town that includes stories about a curse, and an introduction to the servants of the castle who evidently mean to cause him harm, Will’s sense of dread about the whole village rises.</br><br>What is the curse the villagers all claim has been on the castle for hundreds of years, and what does it have to do with the disappearance of a young girl forty years ago? More importantly, what’s The Griffin of Darkwood, and what does it have to do with Will and his family?</br>