A young woman in 1884 doesn't have many options ... But Susannah did not expect to be tutoring an alien snail child while aboard a ship sailing in space ... Who will get the real education? Orphaned and penniless in Hong Kong in 1884 - what's a young gentlewoman to do? Impulsive, adventurous, and self-confident, Susannah accepts an offer to become the governess to a young foreigner on a ship. She does not expect the ship to be in space, or the foreign child to be an alien who looks like a giant snail. Nevertheless, she throws herself into the job of bringing Victorian decorum to the natives. But when she is accused of spying and put on trial in an alien court, Susannah has to challenge the law of the aliens to save herself - and her young and slimy student.