Penelope Greensmith lives a small, dedicated life, collecting plants with the mysterious Vice she inherited from her father. Then the enigmatic and charming Horticulturalist arrives in her garden, asking to see her collection—he tells her it could hold the key to stopping a terrible plague sweeping the universe.
Penelope is whisked away on an intergalactic adventure by the Horticulturalist, witnessing the vast and bizarre mysteries that lie among the stars. She is thrust into a bewildering life of the strange and fantastic—where string powers interstellar travel, where birds fight terrible wars on the bodies of giants, where plants grow to the size of planets—hoping to help Hort save the day.
But as this gentle woman searches for a way to save the universe, her daughter Lily is still on Earth, struggling to survive the terrible plague sweeping the planet. Penelope must fight a way to stop the rot once and for all.
