Young Fidelia Knight arrives in Melbourne in 1874, alone except for her treasured companion, Samuel Johnson; well, half of him.<br /> To escape servitude, Fidelia hides each night in Bourke-street's renowned Coles Book Arcade. She loves words, you see, and wants to know them all.<br /> What she overhears in Coles sets her on a path that will change the lives of everyone she meets, starting with Jasper Godwin, the hopelessly underqualified manager of the new Billings Better Bookstore.<br /> Fidelia's thirst for knowledge is contagious. She tutors two orphan boys and two illiterate women, inspiring them to unlock their creativity; and her exploration of colonial Melbourne takes her to some unusual places.<br /> Nothing daunts this diminutive genius, except the mystery of what really happened to her parents on the voyage from England.
