Anne of Athelhampton and the Riddle of the Apes

The first volume of a trilogy about Anne, youngest daughter of the Martyns, a Catholic family in the Elizabethan era. Anne is given a pet ape, Endy, as a twelfth birthday present from her grasping cousin, Young John, who has accused her grandmother of witchcraft. Can Anne stop him by solving a mysterious riddle before he does? Helped by Endy and her friend Lizzie, Anne searches the passageways and walls of her home, Athelhampton, to the key to the riddle. Only to discover that she herself is Young John’s target, and that her struggle against him will lead her into mortal danger…