The pirates swarm the deck of the captured Charming Molly as stowaway Jack Holborn listens and shudders in his hiding place below. Escape? There is none on the open sea. And above him the muskets fire, and the blood spills, and all of the original crew fall dead.

Young Jack has never known his parents. He takes his name from the parish where he was abandoned as a baby, and now only fate can lead himto the secred of his true identity. It is a treacherous path he follows—from the pirate ship to the "haunted" African jungle, from a nightmare slave market auction to an astonishing trial at the Old Bailey in London—and in the end, to good fortune.