During the late seventeenth century, Louis XIV's natural philosopher and explorer, Father Yves de la Croix, does what no one has done for four hundred years: he brings a living sea monster to land. Thus begins a stunning fantasy, a journey into science and superstition, and an alternate history in which Yves and his sister, Marie-Josèphe, a lady-in-waiting with her own finely tuned intelligence and insatiable curiosity-struggle to learn from and...